IIT-KGP develops solar-powered pest control device | Fusion - WeRIndia

Pest control is vital in agriculture. Prevention of pests helps control crop diseases and thereby improves the yield. While large farmers use tractor-mounted sprayers, it is difficult for small and marginal farmers to use such vehicles. As a result, marginal farmers cannot efficiently manage pest control.

Since marginal farmers cannot use tractor-mounted sprayers due to their cost, they have to rely on conventional knapsack sprayers, which are operated manually. This process involves more labour. Besides, spraying depends upon the skill of the operator. In addition to that, it consumes more time. It also involves more chemical usage and thereby increases environmental pollution.

To avoid all these problems and help small and marginal farmers, IIT Kharagpur researchers developed a solar-powered pest control system.

This system can help marginal farmers who owned small agricultural tracts for efficient pest control.

A team of researchers from IIT Kharagpur developed a self-propelled sprayer. It can be operated in small tracts of agriculture land. The team applied for a patent for this semi-automated device.

The solar-powered pest control device has a liquid storage tank and DC mot operated pump to spray the pest-control liquid uniformly. Several spray nozzles can be attached to the machine to cover a wider area at once.  As the system is semi-automatic, it reduces the burden on the operator. At the same time, it also reduces the dependency on fossil fuel to spray the liquid in cropped fields.

Hifjur Raheman, professor at IIT Kharagpur, said that the device can be operated with solar powered-battery. Besides, the liquid storage tank is larger than the normal knapsack sprayer. In addition to that, it needs minimal human involvement. A solar-powered three-wheeler trolley can be used to carry out spraying liquid in the field.

Due to higher field capacity and more uniformity of spraying pest-liquid, the system will be more effective. In addition to that, it can cover an area of 1.5 metres at a time with its speed of 2km per hour. Hence, it can reduce manpower and chemical usage.

Image Credit: The KHP Chronicle

Image Reference: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/iit-kharagpur-develops-solar-powered-pest-control-system-for-smaller-farmlands/