Hand tractors becoming a hit with Doti farmers

Kathmandu - A growing number of farmers are attracted towards using modern agriculture tools and machinery here in the district in recent times. The farmers are using hand tractors for tilling the land, threshing paddy, harvesting wheat and sowing maize. They have begun using power hand tillers and threshers as the agricultural works can be carried out in less time and less labours. "It is much much faster and easier to till the land using power hand tiller than ploughing the field with oxen," said Devaki Kathayat of Dipayal Pipalla.

She said even women can plough the field with the help of the tiller and this is one reason for the growing use of power tillers in the district. Kathayat shared that she has also started tilling the fields with the help of hand tractors these days. Like her, many women in the district have started using the power tiller. Most of the farmers in the district have been tilling their land using hand tractors and have abandoned ploughing the fields with the help of oxen.

Similarly, more and more farmers in the district are using thresher machine for threshing paddy and harvesting wheat. Hikmat Bahadur Saud of Banfi village, Silgadhi municipality-3 said: "We can use the hand tractor in narrow fields where it is not possible to plough with the help of oxen. So, there is growing demand for hand tractors." The Province Agriculture development Directorate Dipayal's chief Yagya Raj Joshi also confirmed that a growing number of farmers have started using hand tractor and thresher.

The sale of these implements and machineries has also increased accordingly. He said they have also started providing these implements to the farmers at subsidised rate. Joshi added that the Directorate has provided various agricultural implements as hand tractors and thresher machines to more than 100 farmers at subsidised rate.