Turn on the pump

Even as city slickers are getting familiar with mobile phones doubling as remotes that can control their electronic appliances at home,in Maharashtras rural areas,the same technique is liberating hundreds of farmers from a routinely manual job.

The technology is simple. The farmer dials the number of a cellphone thats set up at the pump. This phone has a modem that controls the starter of the pump set. To switch on the set,the farmer dials a preset code that is given to her. Once the code is dialled,the user has to confirm his function ON/OFF and then cut the call.

Unpretentiously termed Remote Mobile Starters,the technique comes packed in a small kit thats set up at the pump site. The farmer who owns this kit,which has the mobile phone,keeps it under lock and key.

In villages like ours where power cuts can last 12 hours a day and the supply is often restored in the middle of the night,this technology is a boon, says Dhole of Mhaswad village in Satara,happy she doesnt have to do the nocturnal trips to her field anymore.

About six months ago,it was Dattatrey Shirke of Mhaswad village who introduced the concept to the village. Now he is the dealer of the kits in Satara district.

I heard of such a technique on a visit to Pune about a year ago. Manufactured by a Pune-based company,Khyatee,the kit comes for Rs 2,500, says Shirke,who has sold 25 such sets in and around his village.

One of his first buyers was Chetna Gala Sinha,founder of Mann Deshi Udyogini,the rural bank for women that also imparts training to women in entrepreneurship. The technology has even done away with the earlier hazard of the pump motor getting burnt when it is switched on during low voltage,as here the pump will not start till the three phases are complete, says Sinhas husband Vijay who has some 30 acres under cultivation and has installed two such kits on his fields.

Sinha has been advocating the technique through the banks community radio for farmers and is now planning a special loan package with a tie-up with the dealers to expand the reach of the facility. The technology is especially useful for women as they are the ones who are usually sent out to the fields to start the motors or put them off. Also when the men do this chore,they usually go on their motorcycles while the women have to invariably walk the distance, says Sinha.

The technology even makes economic sense. It would cost me petrol worth Rs 8 to go to the pump and come back every time on my motorcycle. The call costs only 20 paise, says Dholes husband.

According to Deepak Bogde of Khyatee,the company whose kits are being used in Mhaswad,the best thing about the product is that unlike remote controls,this technique is not dependent on distances. You can turn them on from anywhere,even abroad. They are not hampered by stringent licences and permits that remote devices come under, he says.

The man who pioneered the technique is Santosh Ostwal,who came up with his product Nano Ganesh,the original mobile pump starter kit,in 2003 and started its commercial production in 2007. Having sold some 10,000 sets by now to farmers in Maharashtra,Rajasthan,Gujarat and Punjab,he is now getting ready to export them to Australia and Egypt. While his versions of the kit range from Rs 560 to Rs 12,500,its his Rs 2,800 model that is a hit with farmers,he says.

Though the technology was devised in response to the difficulties faced by farmers,its also a huge energy and water saver, says Ostwal,CEO of Ossian Agro Automation.