Background :
In India, the cultivation of cassava is mainly done in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Assam etc. Tamil Nadu stands first both in area and production followed by Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The total area under tapioca in India is 216.66 thousand hectares and the production are about 7319.13 thousand metric tonnes. The different field operations in cassava cultivation are, stake cutting, planting, weeding & earthing up, irrigation, de topping, loosening the roots and pulling up the plants, removing the tubers for transport. At present planting and harvesting is done manually. The planting is done by women labours by placing stakes in the ploughed and ridged soil. This process requires around 20-man days /ha and is a tedious work. The ultimate aim of mechanization is to eliminate the manual operations. Currently no planters are available in India for vertical planting of cassava stakes. To solve the above problem an attempt was made to develop a tractor operated cassava stake cutter planter.
Technology Details :
A tractor operated single row cassava stake cutter planter has been developed with main frame, stake cutting system, stake planting mechanism, transmission system and ridger. The cutting system