Kai Nattie or Machine Nattie ……..?

 

It  is early June and the buzz going around among the few farmers who are still cultivating rice is – “Kai Nattie / Machine Nattie?”

Nattie means Transplant and the question is “Do you plan to get the rice transplanted manually – by hand – Kai Nattie OR  do you plan to hire a Rice Transplant Machine? The locals have mixed opinions on the Machine transplanting – but I for one was keen on doing it this way.  It saves a tremendous amount of time and money. 

The seed sowing method is different for Machine transplanting and that is how the discussions and questions start in June when seed sowing is to be done.  For those of you who have not read my earlier blog posts, the nursery preparation for manual transplanting is linked here.

So  the difference starts with preparing the soil in which the seeds are to be planted.  You have to mix the soil with the compost and then sieve the mixture.  There should be no stones or pebbles in the mixture else the machine gets jammed. 

So I decided to have the rice nursery on the terrace as it would also be safe from the cows/wild boars and peacocks!

A set of 50 plastic trays was purchased.  My farm hand Yogesh brought a few basket loads of fine soil and compost up to the upper room and a large net for sieving the mixture.  I started mixing the damp compost and the soil- it was similar to making pastry dough – you have to get it all crumbly first – no lumps.  The netting did a good job of sieving the mixture and soon the trays were all filled and levelled.  

A prayer in my heart and I started sprinkling the seeds on the trays.

  Rice germinates very easily and there is no need to cover the seeds with another layer of soil.  Hay is laid evenly over the seeds and then a generous sprinkling of water.  The very next day I could see the sprouts and the third day the rice saplings had pushed the hay up by an inch.  

A week later the rice saplings were ready to be exposed to the sun and I removed the hay gently.

  A carpet of green adorned the terrace!

Just a regular watering was all that it needed.  And July first week, the plants were ready for transplanting.   

The rice transplanting machine is a fascinating one!  After the field was ploughed and muddled up with a 2 to 3 inch deep water level, the machine was brought in.  A note about where the machine comes from :

We have a local “Dharmasthal Sangha”  which has most of the modern machines required for farming.  They let out this equipment for a very reasonable hourly rate and the trained operator brings the machine to your farm. He  starts  the timer when he starts the work and charges you for the total time that the machine was used on your land!  Amazing isn’t it?   (You can read more about this here https://skdrdpindia.org/agriculture/chsc/)

We had already rolled up the ‘Mats of Paddy saplings’  out of the trays in which they were planted. 

They rolled mats were then carried out to the paddy farm.  Several  mats are unrolled and placed on an angular tilted frame and operator sets off pushing the  machine.  It trundles along and a set of hooks pulls out clumps of the saplings and plants them into the slush as it moves on. 

It briskly covers the length of the field, is turned  and then brought back to plant the next several lines of saplings.  The whole process of transplantation which would have taken 8 to 10 labourers a whole day, gets done in an hour and a half!

After one year of not planting anything and then one year of a failed crop – due to destruction by the wild boars, I hope this time things are better.

I plan on getting an electric fence to protect the crop from boars.  I hope the Jeevamruth works its magic and pray for a decent harvest.