Mahipal Chary\u2019s innovations are a boon for tillers\u00a0who could earlier not afford expensive farm equipment<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kadavendi Mahipal Chary, a 42-year-old grassroots innovator and entrepreneur from Parkal, empathises with farmers’ sufferings due to the lack of suitable and affordable equipment in the Indian market, and he is offering solutions with his innovations like mini-cultivators, mini-tractors, power weeders, and hydraulic lifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I couldn’t finish my 10th board examinations and used to work as a bike mechanic,” recalls Chary. I then went back to my village and began farming the 2-acre plot of land my father had left for me. I didn’t have enough money at the time to pay for labourers or buy cows for ploughs. I began repairing tractors and advanced over time. I started designing the mini-cultivator, which eliminates the need for labourers and oxen, in 2011, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inventor reveals that his initial effort, which utilised an auto-rickshaw engine was unsuccessful. “Later, I bought an engine built in China from Hyderabad, modified it, and the mini-cultivator functioned. I later began designing more,” he says. Chary is currently producing cultivators by assembling engines from Kolhapur and materials and gears from Hyderabad after being encouraged by the reaction. Our company, Varun Engineering Works, employs 12 people, and we have so far sold about 4,000 cultivators, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We used to export them across the country before Covid-19 but now we are selling them only in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,\u201d Chary says. The 22-inch cultivator is mounted with a 4 hp engine which enables farmers to use it in places where crops are planted over 22 inches apart. Accelerator is provided in the left hand grip and the machine is manoeuvred by two hands with the handle provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A variant with a 5 hp motor was created by Mahipal in response to farmer requests and can be used for light ploughing in fruit gardens and other dryland farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says: \u201cOn average, a farmer can plough 2-3 acres of land with one-litre diesel in three hours. The machine costs just Rs 50,000 while the cows used for the same purpose cost a minimum of Rs 1 lakh and require maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chary\u2019s other popular innovations include a power weeder (he has sold 20 units), and a mini-tractor which is connected to a trolley and can haul up to one tonne, while the tractor hydraulic lift can lift 500 kg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his innovations, Chary received the President’s Award in 2015 and the National Entrepreneurship Award in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mahipal Chary\u2019s innovations are a boon for tillers\u00a0who could earlier not afford expensive farm equipment. Kadavendi Mahipal Chary, a 42-year-old grassroots innovator and entrepreneur from Parkal, empathises with farmers’ sufferings due to the lack of suitable and affordable equipment in the Indian market, and he is offering solutions with his innovations like mini-cultivators, mini-tractors, power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-good-news"],"yoast_head":"\n