Photo Singh has designed a manual paddy seedling planter. Honey Bee Network discovered him during the 18th Shodh Yatra from Gangagarh to Daula in western UP (2006-07). With the back and forth movement of the machine, mechanical fingers are actuated, which pick seedlings from the tray and transplant these into the puddled soil bed. The machine currently enables farmers to plant three rows of paddy at once, but design improvements could eventually increase this figure to five, nine, or even eleven rows at a time. SRISTI and NIF facilitated its on-farm testing in Gujarat and based on the farmers’ suggestions, the machine is being modified to suit the local needs. It is important to note that almost entire paddy in the farmers’ field in the country is transplanted by women
in back-breaking posture.