Telangana students design cost-effective cover to protect harvested crops

Using engineering skills for the benefit of farmers is what motivated three young girl students from Telangana to design an indigenous solution for protecting paddy after harvest from vagaries of nature.

This innovative solution is aptly called Rythanna Kit which means farmers’ kit and it has been designed by V. Laharika, G. Chandana and N. Swetha – second-year diploma students of Electronics and Communication Engineering in Government Polytechnic College for Women in Warangal. The kit won the Best Innovation Award in Design Thinking in the Youth for Social Impact programme held this week.

The bag-like cover designed by the students is made of high-grade tarpaulin and has zippers and meshes at regular intervals. To enable repeated use of the cover season after season, it come with an organic rat repellent spray while farmers are provided with gloves and rubber strips to cover the sharp edges of farm shovel. Tapes to repair the bag will also be provided to repair it in case of any damage.

The size of the bag is 18 feet by 24 feet and it can cover 25 to 30 quintals of grain. It can be rolled up and packed like a suitcase making it easy to store them.

Being daughters of farmers, the three were aware of the losses and suffering their fathers had undergone with the destruction of the harvest due to unseasonal rains.

Before launching to design the kit, they interacted with more than 100 farmers from Yellapur, Bavupet, and Kaniparthi villagers to understand their needs and concerns.

A prototype of Rythanna Kit is being used by a farmer in the Warangal district to test its effectiveness.

It is cost-effective as it is priced at Rs.2,500 while the cost of a tarpaulin or a plastic sheet of the same size is Rs.2,800 while the life of the bag is much more.

The kit has been tested thoroughly in terms of weight and moisture content in grain, before and after drying. Further tests on a larger scale are planned before launching of mass production.