'Torchbearer' of farmers

It was in 2002 that David Raja Beula first attempted to devise equipment to help farmers. The government had introduced a new variety of brinjal, Ravaiya, and asked farmers in Villupuram region to plant them in their fields, as an alternative to paddy. However, the plants were attacked by worms and all the existing pest control methods proved ineffective. “The worms had become resistant to the available pesticides,” David Raja remembers. As he was the agricultural officer then, it was his responsibility to find a solution and that is when he came up with the idea of a ‘light trap’. “Pests naturally get attracted to light. So, we placed lights in the field and trapped the insects with oil-smeared papers. It should be done before they lay eggs on the plant,” he says. Though the idea worked, the electricity board raised an objection as free power should be used only for irrigation purposes. Then David Raja made the device battery-operated. “It was a success and worms could be controlled within the third cycle of cultivation. 

Two lights per acre did the trick,” says David Raja, who improved on his innovation with the suggestions from farmers, thus making the ‘trap’ smaller, cheaper and mobile. 

In the last 15 years, he has created a number of such devices — a portable solar pump for small-scale farmers, drought fighter sprayer to reduce use of water and multipurpose solar pest manager among others. After he makes the design, he takes the help of local electricians and mechanics. “My work as an agricultural officer comprised both administration work as well as guiding farmers. And I chose to be on the field most of the time. I spent time with farmers to understand their problems and find easy solutions,” says David Raja, who retired as the Deputy Director of the Agriculture Department last February. David Raja did his Master’s in Agri Economics before being absorbed into Agricultural Engineering division of the department of state government. And what inspired him to device farmer-friendly equipment was a three month training he attended in Denmark in the year 2000. “In Denmark, agriculture fields as vast as 1,000 acres are owned by individuals and their machinery is massive. What I’m trying to do is make devices to suit our farmers’ needs,” says David Raja. 

Apart from the devices, David Raja also comes up with workable concepts for sustainable agriculture under what he calls Eco-micro Economic Model, with which farmers can make use of the available resources to the maximum. 

“When a farmer in Melaneelithanallur in Tirunelveli came to me and said there is very little water in his well for irrigation, I told him to set up a poultry farm in his field. Hens survive on little water. That year, he could manage without struggling. In fact, there are enough resources in each village to support its population. But we haven’t explored them. Most importantly, sunlight is enormously available in our country and we should learn to tap it. Farmers should soon replace fuel and electricity with solar energy. Another essential step farmers need to make is to create a pond,  which should be as big as 10 per cent of the field. Rainwater will automatically be saved and farmers can even grow a small crop using the water,” explains David Raja, who is settled in Tirunelveli. His wife, Swarnalatha, is the HoD of the English Department in the Government Arts College in Tirunelveli, while his son Daniel Schwartz David is practising medicine as government doctor in Ukkiramkottai village. 

Having retired, David Raja now has all the time to help farmers more. “I’m working on the solar vehicle now, which farmers can use bring the produce directly to the market. I want to encourage farmers in whatever way possible because that’s what they are lacking. Apart from the struggle due to the drought situation, they also feel rejected. They need counselling,” concludes David Raja.