Bengaluru, Aug 20 (PTI) Engineer-turned-farmer Avinash Desai, who won the season 2 TAFE’s Massey Dynastar Contest, beating more than 16,000 applicants, is yet again proof that necessity is often the mother
of invention.
The core of his award-winning idea is a simple mechanism, but a solution that would be a boon to farmers, especially dairy farmers, said Desai.
He tweaked the existing solutions for cow dung processing or composting — something that Desai said most farmers struggle with as it requires time and space — and came up with a ‘mobile slurry dewatering machine’ that could be operated by TAFE’s tractors, a pre-condition for participating in the competition.
Desai, who lives in one of the many ‘wades’ (minor forts) dotting the Belagavi district, traces his lineage to the legendary Veerappa Nayaka, commandant of Kartyaveera II, a ruler of the Ratta dynasty in the Belagavi district. Legend has it that his ‘wade’, one of the few intact ones remaining today, was built by Kartyaveera himself in the 12th century.
Today, the Desai family own 100 acres in his village Chachadi, in Saudatti taluk, growing sugarcane, channa and jowhar. They also take care of at least 20 cattle at any given point of time.
“So, disposing of cow dung has been something that has always weighed heavy on us. We tried bio-digester, but the slurry was so heavy that it burst. We went back to dumping the dung in a pit and letting it rot for a year at least, like most people around us do,” said Desai.
Desai said he realised most large-holding farmers, who invest in a bio-digester initially, go back to the age-old ‘dump it in pit’ practice as the output of bio-digester, slurry, which is 70 to 80 per cent water content, is difficult to handle in large quantities.
“Even after being processed by a bio-digester, we needed to let it dry outside before we could use it. Sure, bio-digester cut down the time required drastically. If traditionally it took us a year before cow dung can be converted into manure, with bio-digester it took us a little over a month. But it is still not optimal,” said Desai, an electronics and communication engineer.
This is where his ‘mobile slurry dewatering machine’ comes into the picture.
Attached to a tractor like a trailer, and powered by the tractor’s PTO or Power Take-off, the machine allows a farmer to immediately separate slurry from bio-digester into nutrient rich liquid and manure with a simple ‘screw press’ technology.
A screw press is a mechanism that utilises a rotating screw to apply pressure and separate solid from liquid.
It’s a win-win, said Desai, because the farmers also have access to nutrient-rich liquid, which was wasted earlier.
“We could instantly ‘water’ the fields with slurry water and use the solid waste as manure,” said Desai.
Incidentally, Desai said he had also participated in season one of the contest, held in 2023.
“Initially, I was under the impression that probably the organisers are looking for something complicated. So, I devised a very complicated platform that could be attached as a trailer on a tractor and powered by PTO. This platform can be used as a mount for fire engines to fight forest fires or wildlife ambulance, because as you know tractors can reach places that a normal vehicle cannot access,” said Desai.
But after seeing season one, Desai said he realised that the idea behind the contest is to give accessible solutions to farmers.
“For instance, it was a mobile milking device, again with simple technology, which won the first edition,” said Desai.
When he came back home from the contest, Desai said he looked around him with new eyes, trying to see what he could do to simplify the day-to-day life of a farmer.
“That is when I realised that the cow-dung composting problem could do with some tweaks,” said Desai.
The rest, as they say, is history. PTI JR KH
