TN to import hi-tech farm equipment

Chennai, Oct 17 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government is planning to import hi-tech equipment for transplanting and harvesting paddy crops and harvesting and crushing sugarcane to help farmers get higher yield.

Talking to newspersons here today, after a 14-day-long tour of South East Asian countries, Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S Arumugham said while the equipment for transplanting and harvesting paddy crops would be imported from Japan, the equipment for cane harvesting and crushing would be imported from China.

A high-level delegation from these two countries would visit the state by the end of this month and hold talks with Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

The prices for the equipment would be fixed after full scale discussions and the orders would be placed with the companies, he added.

These equipment would be procured through the Agriculture Department with the involvement of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and distributed to all district headquarters.

The farmers would use these equipment to transplant the crops in time and get better yield at the time of harvest, by paying a nominal fee.

Mr Arumugham said that during the tour, a delegation headed by him visited the S N K I Company in Thailand, Mitsubishi in Tokyo, Yarmar company in Okaya and the Hansun Machinery in China, all leading manufacturers of farm equipment.

UNI