Manually Operated Rice Transplanter for SRI

Manual transplanting operation is a tedious operation which is normally performed by women labourers in upright bending posture. It is a time-consuming operation requiring about 250-300 man-h ha-1, accounting for about25 per cent of total labour requirement of paddy crop.To obviate problems of labour scarcity for manual transplanting during peak seasons and for accomplishing the timelines of operation, transplanting should be done either by manual transplanter or self-propelled transplanter.In Asia, more than 60 per cent farmers have land holding size less than 2 ha. Therefore technology for small holding size plays a very important role in developing countries, so an attempt was made to develop plug type rice transplanter for SRI.