Mysuru: In recent times, farmers have been struggling to find labour to carry out agricultural activities. In most cases machines have replaced men giving relief to most growers.

Machines have taken over paddy seeding but for millets, machines were not available till date. The VST Tillers Tractors will be launching a sapling tiller to help small and medium scale millet growers. The new machine is ideal for sowing ragi underground. The VST Tillers and Tractors has conducted several trials on the new machine at the prestigious Agricultural University in the capital and the new machine will be made available to farmers in the market for the current sowing season.

Small and medium-sized farmers who were struggling with the migration of agricultural labour can get back to farming through this machine. Prof. H G Ashok at GKVK in Bengaluru certified the new invention and said it is ideal for millet seeding at 2.5 cm depth below ground level as bigger machines available in the market are unsuitable.

In this context, the discovery of this new machine is good enough to facilitate millet growers in the small and mid-sized category growing the cereal in the plains of the state where rainfall is abysmally low but good enough to harvest ragi.