Inventor comes to farmers’ rescue

By Surekha GALAGODA

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The forte of T.M. Ismahoon who hails from Tambuttegama is inventing equipment to help the farmer community earn better profits.

Prior to being an inventor, he was a technical officer of the Department of Agriculture. He knew the problems of farmers and wished to help them to reduce their burden, and that was the birth of the Agro thresher cum cleaner for rice.

“Once I left my job my thoughts went back and I mused what piece of equipment will be better. One day while I was travelling on a bicycle I saw a crowd. When I went close I saw people fanning the paddy which was a tedious task.” Then I thought of turning out a machine to help them.”

Though there were many machines in the market it never catered to the needs of the farmer. This prompted him to invent the machine.

He raised the money and purchased the raw material needed to turn out the machine. He launched the product in 2005 under the brand name Mahaweli Agro Mech. It is available only in Tambuttegama and I make about two machines per month. He has already provided employment to five persons at his factory. What is most striking in the machine is that there is virtually no damage to the seeds and it is clean. Therefore, the farmer can use his own paddy as seeds without purchasing it from the market for future requirements.

At present the machines are being tested by the Farm Mechanisation Research Centre in MahaiIlluppallama and once the certificate comes I hope the sales will increase.

He said if the extent of land is one acre or less the large machine cannot be used and a small machine is also available. Educated at St. Aloysious’ College, Ratnapura up to his Ordinary level examination, Ismahoon joined the Ceylon German Technical Training Institute at Katubedda and completed his diploma in the early 1970s.

Thereafter he joined the Agriculture Department as a technical officer. Ismahoon was given a grant of Rs. 500,000 by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC) and has been promised publicity as well for his invention.

He thanked his wife and son and all those who supported him along the way including the SLIC. He said that he doesn’t have the funds to develop his production and he cannot get a loan as he doesn’t have the collateral the bank’s request.

Therefore, he is not in a position to expand his production further. He is married to an English teacher and has one son.