Sri Lanka takes giant leap in mechanising agriculture
View(s):Mechanisation is a crucial input for agricultural crop production and one that has historically been neglected in the context of developing countries. DIMO has been in the forefront in introducing modern agricultural equipment to Sri Lanka to facilitate farm mechanisation, and recently, the company enabled a giant leap in mechanisation of agriculture in Sri Lanka by introducing CLAAS Jaguar – a self-propelled state-of-the-art forage harvester built by German agricultural machinery manufacturing giant, CLAAS.
Presently, the chronic shortage of feed coupled with the poor quality of fodder is widely regarded as the major constraint in animal milk production in Sri Lanka. Prolonged preservation of fodder in the form of silage becomes the key to overcoming the increasing constraints in green fodder availability, DIMO said in a media release.
Realizing the growing demand of Sri Lankan dairy farming industry for quality silage, CLAAS, the leading agricultural equipment manufacturer, has introduced its world-renowned JAGUAR series of forage harvesting machines. Prior to this, various options have been tried in order to produce quality fodder, but none of them has delivered the expected results. The stationary chopper used was unable to crush grains properly resulting in poor silage and could only harvest 3-4 acres per day.
The JAGUAR 850 with ORBIS 450 is a technically sophisticated machine that offers more productivity, more choice, more comfort and extra yield. The machine comes with a Corn cracker that helps in crushing the grains properly, thus producing quality silage. This machine has a capability to harvest 20-25 acres per day, increasing the productivity while maintaining excellent chopping quality, DIMO said.
The first ever CLAAS Jaguar harvester was recently delivered to Golden Grains (Pvt) Ltd, part of Crysbro Group of Companies with two separate locations in Kantale and Mahiyangana. Golden Grains is the first company in Sri Lanka to introduce corn silage bales to Sri Lanka and cultivate corn in a land mass of 850 acres for corn silage production.
Ranjith Pandithage (Chairman & Managing Director – DIMO), said that: “DIMO is aggressively pursuing initiatives which will take Sri Lanka’s mechanization of agriculture to the next level. CLAAS Jaguar is a giant step forward in that endeavour.” According to Mohamed Imtiaz (Chairman of Crysbro), “JAGUAR forage harvester is the next step of mechanization of farming. CLAAS Jaguar is world renowned and a proven machine. It will go a long way in improving the silage production levels and set a new standard in forage harvesting.”
Several dignitaries from CLAAS, Crysbro Group and DIMO took part at this important handing over, which took place at Rotalawala, Mahiyangana. Dr. Jens Oeding (Regional President-Asia), Jay Singh (Managing Director – CLAAS Agricultural Machinery Pvt Ltd), Prem Kumar (Head Sales – India & SAARC) and T. Pavan (Regional Business Manager – North India & SAARC) represented CLASS. Crysbro Group was represented by Mohamed Imtiaz and T. Imtiaz. DIMO was represented by Mr. Pandithage, Viranga Wickramaratne (Chief Operating Officer-DIMO Retail), Gihan Fernando (Head of Agriculture Machinery Division) and Amal Tilakaratne (Sales Manager, Agriculture Machinery Division).