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AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION
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AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS
Soil and climatic conditions influence the use of particular types of agricultural implements. In Ratnagiri district, few implements are required for performing agricultural operations mainly because of the predominance of paddy cultivation throughout the district. The following table shows the extent and use of various kinds of agricultural machinery and implements (talukawise) in the district in 1956:-
TABLE No. 24.
AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND IMPLEMENTS-RATNAGIRI DISTRICT, 1956.
|
Name of Taluka. |
Ploughs. |
Carts. |
Sugarcane Crushers. |
|
Wooden. |
Iron. |
Worked by power. |
Worked by bullocks |
Mandangad |
6,263 |
3 |
185 |
-- |
7 |
Dapoli |
677 |
2 |
677 |
-- |
-- |
Khed |
16,635 |
2 |
599 |
-- |
-- |
Chiplun |
14,525 |
6 |
786 |
-- |
-- |
Guhagar |
8,192 |
20 |
203 |
-- |
-- |
Deorukh |
17,640 |
1 |
449 |
-- |
1 |
Lanje |
13,658 |
-- |
293 |
-- |
-- |
Ratnagiri |
15,825 |
34 |
269 |
-- |
1 |
Rajapur |
18,383 |
72 |
428 |
-- |
8 |
Kankavli |
19,167 |
23 |
449 |
-- |
13 |
Deogad |
15,356 |
9 |
204 |
-- |
3 |
Kudal |
15,228 |
-- |
246 |
-- |
-- |
Malvan |
12,419 |
9 |
366 |
2 |
-- |
Sawantwadi |
17,076 |
-- |
464 |
-- |
4 |
Vengurla |
7,833 |
1 |
61 |
-- |
-- |
|
Total |
1,98,877 |
182 |
5,679 |
2 |
37 |
continued..
|
Name of Taluka. |
Oil Engines with pumps for irrigation purposes. |
Electric pumps for irrigation purposes. |
Tractors. |
Ghanies. |
|
Govern
ment. |
Private. |
5 Seers and over |
Less than 5 seers. |
Mandangad |
7 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
26 |
Dapoli |
21 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
36 |
41 |
Khed |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
Chiplun |
1 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
11 |
Guhagar |
9 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
35 |
34 |
Deorukh |
4 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
33 |
35 |
Lanje |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
20 |
46 |
Ratnagiri |
9 |
2 |
-- |
-- |
30 |
96 |
Rajapur |
7 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
52 |
81 |
Kankavli |
2 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
19 |
9 |
Deogad |
2 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
24 |
32 |
Kudal |
2 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
8 |
4 |
Malvan |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
83 |
-- |
Sawantwadi |
1 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
5 |
-- |
Vengurla |
6 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
13 |
13 |
|
Total |
71 |
3 |
1 |
-- |
358 |
428 |
Plough.
Plough (nangar) is made entirely of sag, bhendi, ain, khair,
chinch, shivan, kinjal, fanas or any other type of wood available.
It consists of several pieces viz., body (khod), shoe (khadsa), share
(phal), beam (hala or isad), handle (rumane), hand grip (muth),
and wedge (phaletoo). The body and the handle are manufactured in two separate pieces. The beam is mortised into the body.
The end of the share working in the soil is held in position with the shoe by a round or oval iron ring, (wasave) and the other end is held in position by insertion of a wooden peg into the scooped end of the share. The other end of the peg is mortised into the angular position between the body and the shoe. Some farmers do not use the device of a peg fastener but instead, the other end of the share is hooked 90° and hammered on the shoe. The body and the shoe form one integral unit. The plough, the handle and the grip are also manufactured in one integral unit.
Plough is operated by a pair of bullocks and a driver. The area ploughed in a day comes to about 15 gunthas (one half acre). The adjustments to vary the depth of working of the implement are made by means of shifting the hitching point closer or further away from the implement, for which special notches are made at the hitching end of the beam. The plough in this district is used more for puddling operations. It is remarkably light in weight being made of wood and can be easily pulled by the rather weak bullocks of the Konkan region. As the plough is mostly worked under relatively wet conditions of land, it does not last as long as it does in some other districts. Some details about life, weight, etc. of the implement are as under:
|
Life of the implement |
3 to 4 years. |
|
Weight of the implement |
25 to 40 lbs. |
|
Depth of the furrow |
2 to 4 inches. |
|
Width of the furrow |
4 to 5 inches. |
|
Cost of the implement* |
Rs. 12 to Rs. 20 |
*Refers to 1955. The use of improved type of small iron plough, the Meston plough, has been recommended for this area. An eminent manufacturer of Satara has manufactured a small iron plough with a wooden beam, which is found very suitable in this tract. However, since the implement requires more tractive force, many cultivators who have weak bullocks are reluctant to use it.
Clod crusher.
Clod crusher (maind) is operated by a pair of bullocks and a driver and an area of one and a half to two and a half acres is covered in a day. It is a wooden plank, six to eight feet in length and 9" X 2" in section, made of the same material as that of
plough or of any heavy local wood available on the farm. A beam generally made of bamboo, is fixed in the centre of the plank or bifurcated beam is used. This beam is hitched on the yoke. This clod crusher is very light to operate. Some details about life, weight, etc. of the implement are as under-
|
Life of the implement |
4 to 6 years. |
|
Weight of the implement |
25 to 35 lbs. |
|
Cost of the implement* |
Rs. 6 to Rs. 8. |
It is used for crushing the clods and levelling the puddled field so as to make a better soil bed for transplanting the paddy seedlings.
Peg tooth harrow or Gute-phali.
Peg tooth harrow (gutephali) is operated by a pair of bullocks and a driver. It consists of wooden headpiece about six feet in length and 6" X 3" in section. The wooden pegs (about 3"- 5" in length, 2" in breadth and 2" - 3" apart) are fixed on to one side of the headpiece. Bifurcated ends of the beam are fixed into the headpiece.
This implement is used for levelling the land and collecting the weeds after puddling and an area of one and a half to two and a half acres is covered in a day. It is also used in some places after the sowing operation in order to have more or less uniform sowing when paddy is broadcast. As it has been provided with the pegs (teeth), it removes the bunches of crowded and sprouted seeds. Some details about the life, weight, etc., of the implement are as under-
|
Life of the implement |
10 to 15 years. |
|
Weight of the implement |
30 to 40 lbs. |
|
Cost of the implement* |
Rs. 8 to Rs. 10. |
*Refers to 1955.
Leveller.
Leveller (petari) is operated by a pair of bullocks and a labourer and consists of a wooden frame the space in which is filled with bamboo strips. The top of the frame carries a handle. On the lower and outer sides of the frame bifurcated ends of the beam are loosely fitted with pegs.
It is used for levelling the field in rabi season. When the implement is worked by holding the frame vertically, the soil is collected. When the desired place is reached, the frame is tied down so that the soil may fall out. The use of this implement, however, is not very common.
Hand tools.
Usual hand tools as well as other special kinds of hand tools used in this district are described below:-
(a) Rake (ale) consists of an 18 to 24 inches long and 3"X2" section headpiece. Wooden teeth are fixed in the headpiece. Tooth is 4" -5" long and about ¾ to 1 inch in diameter. One bamboo beam is fixed in the centre of the headpiece. The beam is five to six
feet in length and one and a half to two inches in diameter. In some cases, iron nails are fixed instead of wooden teeth.
It is used for collecting dry leaves and grass for rab, and also for collecting threshed material on the yard. In garden lands it is used for even distribution of seeds sown.
(b) Fork (baila) consists of a wooden pole six to eight feet in length with two to three inches diameter and tapered at the top. About three and a half feet from the top a forked branch is secured to the pole in between two horizontal pegs mortised into the pole. The space within the arms of the fork is interwoven with coir strings. This device is used for lifting and carrying a bundle of thorny branches collected for fencing. The tapered end is pierced into the bundle. The pole is held vertical in the hand close to the shoulder and the interwoven portion of the fork rests on the head.
(c) Water splasher (shimpi or shelne) is a kind of wooden hopper with a concave cavity in the centre of about six inches circular curvature and is used for watering seed beds by splashing water from nearby water channels.
Other hand tools used in standing position while working are narrow spade (kudali), flat spade, or shovel (phavade), pickaxe (tikav), axe (kurhad), wood-cutting big knife (paor, pankatre or koyta), mallet (dhepla or mogar), sickle (vila), weeding hook (khurpi), crowbar (pahar) and spear (phendas).
Bullock carts.
The cart used in this district is designed to be considerably smaller in size than those to be found in other districts of the State because of low pulling power of the bullocks. Other details regarding the cart are as under:-
|
Length of the box |
4½ to 5 ft. |
|
Breadth of the box |
2½ to 3 ft. |
|
Depth of the box |
1½ ft |
|
Wheel diameter |
3 ft. |
|
Wheel rim width |
2 inches. |
|
Cost* |
Rs. 200-Rs. 300. |
*Refers to 1955
The base of the box is fitted with bamboo strips secured with coir string, as against plank box base used in other districts. This base is much lighter in weight than the plank base. The hub of the wheel is made of khair wood while all the other parts are made of sag wood.
Persian wheel.
Persian wheel (rahat) is a common device for lifting water from the wells. Mhots are not in common use. The other water lifting device is locally known as okti. In this device a vertical pole is fixed on the top of the well and a horizontal pole is hinged at a height of about ten feet at the bifurcated end of the vertical pole. The length of the horizontal pole is about 20-30 ft. This horizontal pole is counter-balanced by tying heavy stone at one end and the bucket
at the other end (through the rope or the pole). The farmer stands on the edge of the well and lowers down the bucket and works it by emptying it in the water channel.
Miscellaneous.
Paddy is harvested by manual labour by means of sickles. The cut material is tied into small sheaves or bundles and left in the field for drying. When the heads are completely dry, they are struck against a hard ground surface (khale) or on ordinary wooden frame work so as to separate the paddy grains from the ear-heads. This material is winnowed as usual and transported to local rice mills for dehusking. Some farmers possess small stone mill or ghirat to husk paddy for local consumption. For crop protection work, sprayers and dusters are being advocated. Bucket sprayers and holder sprayers are more common. Peerless type dust-guns are also found quite suitable.
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