The GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, College of Home Science has developed a threshing machine suited for use in the mountainous region. This threshing machine has been developed by Dr Divya Singh and Dr Deepa Vinay of the college’s Family Resource Management department.
It should be mentioned here that more than 60 per cent farmers in the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand are marginal. Due to factors like migration to cities in search of employment and other issues, women comprise a major proportion of the number of people working in the farms in the mountainous areas. Harvested paddy is threshed by beating it with sticks which is quite labourious. In order to reduce the labour and considering the conditions faced by farmers in mountainous regions, the college has developed the small threshing machine suited for use in such regions. The threshing machine developed by the college is motor operated and said to be efficient without consuming much power. The college claims that this low cost paddy thresher is ideal for usage in the mountainous areas to reduce drudgery and enhance production. Running on a half horse power electric motor, this thresher can process 16.60 kgs paddy in five minutes.