Design and Evaluation of an Improved Bund Digging Tool for Apatani Integrated Farming System

Aims: To design and evaluate an improved bund digging tool for Apatani integrated farming system. Study Design: Design and development of 3-teeth Damhu. Place and Duration of Study: Testing of the developed 3-teeth Damhu was conducted at eight different places in Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh, and the data has been recorded and represented. The reported work was completed in a duration of one year. Methodology: The Apatani system of farming is considered the most evolved & highly organized system of wet cultivation of rice. Along with rice cultivation, the Apatanis also cultivate fish in their rice fields and also cultivate crops on the bund. With this bund structure, the famous ‘Paddy-cum-fish farming’ is possible, which provides extra wages to the farmers. Seedlings are transplanted on the pre-digged hole which are dug using a traditional implement locally called Damhu. This work contains a detailed study of the traditional method of bund farming, the demerits of the traditional bund-digging tool used, and why there is a need for the development of an improved bund-digging tool. The bund dimensions were thoroughly studied and analyzed. Thereafter, a 3-teeth Damhu was designed and fabricated. This 3-teeth Damhu consists of three metallic teeth attached to a wooden frame which is later fixed with a handle. As for the performance evaluation, the depth of the holes dug with traditional Damhu and the newly fabricated 3-teeth Damhu was compared. Further, the time taken for digging 15 number of holes was also compared. Results: The depth of the holes dug were found to be dependent on the type of the soil i.e. the depth varies from 4.1 cm to 7.3 cm depending on the location. Deeper holes can be dug with the use of the developed 3-teeth Damhu as compared with the traditional one. However, one-way ANOVA result suggested the variation in the depth of the holes is not significant, which is desirable in the present study. Further, the time required for digging 15 holes was also compared and it was found that about 40 % of the time was saved by using the developed 3-teeth Damhu. ANOVA results provide strong evidence that the two groups differ significantly on the measured variable and that significant amount of time is saved. Conclusion: Overall, the developed 3-teeth Damhu was found to be effective in terms of less time consumption. Therefore, the developed tool is recommended for the Apatani bund farming system.