Even as debate continues over the efficacy of the Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver offered by the Government, a business group is convinced that a new product launched by it will benefit the country’s large tribe of small farmers.Birla Harit, a power tiller developed by the Uttarakhand-based Birla Power Solutions—a Rs 2,500 crore Yash Birla company—for farmers with small land holdings, is being billed as a substitute for costly, bigger tractors.“We have built it for the small farmers who cannot afford tractors which cost more than Rs 4 lakh,” said Kalyan Bhattacharya, President and CEO of the company, adding that the easy affordability and manoeuvrability of Birla Harit in small holdings will make it useful. “We are hopeful that small farmers all over the country, horticulturists, particularly those from the Himalayan states, would find the product useful and affordable,” says Yash Birla. The power tiller costs Rs 1.2 lakh, but the company hopes that NABARD will provide a subsidy of Rs 30,000, which will help bring down the cost to less than Rs 1 lakh. “The power tiller will consume less than a litre of diesel in an hour, making it cheaper for the small farmers to till their lands or use the accompanying agricultural appliances,” says Ashok Dabral, assistant general manager in the company. The 11.5-horse power, 12-V machine can be used for tilling, ploughing, weeding, pumping, levelling, pudding, hulling, thrashing and even riding by attaching a trailer. Birla Power will produce 250 mini-tractors per month at the Lal Tappar unit near Dehradun. Given the encouraging response it received from farmers at the recent agriculture fair at PUSA Institute in Delhi, the product might in fact help the small farmers in a big way.
