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It was about fours years ago, recalls Ganesh Niduvannaya, a progressive farmer at Punchappady village near Puttur, a bank employee in his village decided to discontinue paddy cultivation on his five acre land. It was due to acute shortage of labour.

Moreover as the employee had been posted in Bengaluru, he was finding it difficult to manage the cultivation in his native village. A farm labourer, who took interest, convinced the employee to hire the paddy transplanter from Mr. Niduvannaya and continue the cultivation. It was done. The harvesting was also done using a machine hired.

Since then, the employee changed his mind and continues to grow paddy. “If not for machines, the five acre land would be growing some commercial crop now or remained abandoned,” Mr. Niduvannaya told The Hindu.

He said that about eight paddy growers in Puttur taluk who he knew and who had decided to drop paddy cultivation due to the labour factor are continuing the cultivation now. They are spread in Kadaba, Mardala, Kudmar and Panaje villages.

“About 30 acres of paddy under cultivation in those villages thus now have been saved. Thanks to the machines,” he said.

“Paddy cultivation had reached coma stage. Paddy transplanters and combined harvesters (which separates paddy from husk or straw) came like energy boosters,” he said.

Mr. Niduvannaya himself cultivated and harvested paddy on about seven acres using machines.

H. Kempe Gowda, Joint Director, Agriculture, Dakshina Kannada, said paddy tranplanters and harvesters have saved paddy fields from extinction in Dakshina Kannada.

Mr. Gowda said that Kodipu Krushi Trust at Surathkal has taken up a mission of rejuvenating paddy cultivation in abandoned lands. It cultivated paddy on a 10 acre abandoned land under Surathkal hobli last year. It has plans to cover paddy in 50 acres in the same hobli this kharif season.

Now those who have decided to abandon paddy cultivation are renewing their interest due to availability of machines. The department was also encouraging mechanised cultivation and harvesting.

The area under paddy cultivation in Dakshina Kannada dropped from 31,600 hectares during 2013-14 to 28,029 hectares in 2015-16.

“Now the challenge is to save the existing area under cultivation,” he said.