Indonesia’s production of soybeans is low compared to the consumption. One of the factor affecting the production is the low productivity in planting soybean because of limited technology to plant effectively and efficiently.
This inspires a number of students at YSU Faculty of Engineering led byb Ilham Surfani (Mechanical Engineering Education) to develop a planting machine for soybean called Dros. The machine is used for planting the soybean seeds with a more effecient and effective use of time and energy.
“We push the Dros down so that its tubes make holes on the ground. The seeds placed inside each tube will be released one by one with a direction controller,” Ilham explained
Aris, one of team members gave futher explanation. “The machine is an affordable technology for farmers. It has been tested in a planting area in Sidorejo Village, Lendah Sub District, Kulon Progo District, Yogyakarta. In an hour, the machine is able to plant seeds in an area of 40 square meters and six times faster than manual, traditional seed planting method. The planting machine can also be used to plant other types of crops such as corn, peanut, and vegetable seeds” he ended.