[Retracted Article] Development of Rice Seed Dropping Machine for Paddy Field with Local Farmer Participation in Uttaradit Province

Abstract

Farmer participation in the development of rice seed dropping machine for swamp paddy field reduces the cost of cultivation. The designing process and technological development stem from cooperation between researchers and local farmers as well as local philosophers as consultants with their expertise in agricultural machinery development. The designed rice seed dropping set uses a plastic hollow pipe with drilled tapering holes around its surface according to its perimeter for 5 rows, each with 14 holes and a total of 70 holes. These tapering holes are truncated cone shape; its base has 11 millimeters diameter and the top of the hole is 38 degrees slope along the surface of rice dropping set. Result of the trial of this technology in pilot area of Uttaradit province by comparing the cost of rice cultivation from participants’ demonstration rice fields shows that farmers can reduce the use of rice seed to 6-10 kilograms/Rai against 25-30 kilograms/Rai in the sowing method. In brief the farmers are able to reduce the cost of rice seed to 20 kilograms/Rai; the cost of rice cultivation is reduced to only 2,800 Baht/Rai while costing 3,520 Baht/Rai in sowing method cultivation. Such reduction of cultivation cost of 720 Baht/Rai equals to 20 percent. In addition, farmers use less proportion of chemical fertilizer due to the proper distance between each rice clump. The appropriate distance results in rice responding to fertilizer and growing well. Therefore, the farmers approve the technology of rice seed dropping machine for swamp paddy field that reduces the cost of rice cultivation when comparing to sowing machine.