Fifty-year-old Venkateswara Rao has tried all ways, including putting up of electric fence, bursting of crackers and placing of colourful sarees to keep at bay animals straying into his field in remote Gangavaram village of Prakasam district.
In the process, the farmer with just one acre of land ended up spending about ₹80,000 to save his crops, but without getting the desired result. So is the case with another farmer K. Anji Reddy, who has grown bengal gram in his two acres of land as it had always proved to be tough to stave off intruding animals like monkeys, bandicoot rats, and deer.
A novel device developed by Electronics and Communication Engineering(ECE) students of QIS College of Engineering and Technology under the guidance of their department head Ch. Hima Bindu has come as a big boon for the farmers of the village, near S.N. Padu, about 20 km from here.
“Now we are able to stave off the wild animals straying into our fields without harming them or we ourselves getting injured while bursting crackers under pitch dark condition late in the night,” says a farmer, B. Hanumantha Rao, who is happy with the intrusion-free farming.
The device made with PVC pipes by the members of the ECE Students Research Club triggers exothermic reaction when the chemicals in it is ignited with a gas lighter. The released gas produces a big sound and scares away the animals, which do not dare to visit the farm once again, explain club leaders B. John Rohith and P. Chandrasekhar.
Free of cost
To start with, the device developed on trial and error method, has been provided free of cost to scores of farmers in the village.
“We can supply any number of canon guns for interested farmers from other villages for a price of ₹600 each,” says Dr. Hima Bindu.
“We are in the process of developing upgraded version of the canon gun with electronic sensors attached to it to trigger chemical reaction automatically when animals stray into farms,” she says.
They have got an invitation to give a presentation on the device at IIT, Kanpur tech fest later this month, say the proud members of the club with more than 60 students. Other devices developed by them include a water filter and Kisan cutter, they add.
