The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) and a farmers’ NGO have jointly developed a cost-effective agricultural transportation system that addresses labour shortage, a major issue faced by Indian farmers. The transportation system, which is a lightweight monorail type, can economically carry agricultural produce from the fields to collection points near the farm.

An IIT Madras team along with ‘Pothu Vivasayeegal Sangam,’ an NGO, tested the prototype cableway system at a farm in Nanjai Thottakurichi village of Karur district in Tamil Nadu, says a release.

Manpower shortage for farming activities is especially severe during the post-harvest period when manpower is required to transport agricultural produce (such as sugarcane, banana bunches, or paddy) from the field to nearby collection points. The problem is especially acute in wetland farms, where labourers find it difficult to traverse waterlogged areas with headloads.

The transportation system developed by Shankar Krishnapillai of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, jointly with the farmers’ NGO, provides an economical and simple solution to this problem.

Krishnapillai said the proposed agricultural system is based on a simple design and components, and is easy to implement on local farms. The addition of rails and posts can easily scale up the transportation system to over a kilometer. Future plans include trolleys powered by battery power packs charged by solar energy.

It is estimated that a small farm would have to employ 32 people everyday to carry agricultural produce to collection points. But, with the deployment of the transportation system, just four farm workers would be needed to do the same work.

The transportation system also brings down the bruising of fruits, when manually carried overhead to collection points, the release said.

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