For S. Abisha, a third-year scholar on the VIT School for Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL), interacting with clove farmers in Kanniyakumari gave perception into their agricultural practices and the numerous challenges they confronted.

At graVITas’23, the newest version of the three-day know-how pageant, which has been organised by Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) since 2008, Ms. Abisha’s entry for ‘Hackathon for Agricultural Transformation’, which was held on Saturday, concerned a tool to make clove harvesting simpler and safer.

Along along with her teammate, Ashlyn Chryssandra, she designed a framework for a prototype instrument to function an alternative choice to handbook harvesting of cloves. “I have seen how farmers risk their lives when harvesting cloves from tall trees. They say it is the only way, but I want to provide them with a safer alternative. So, we developed a design for something to harvest cloves,” she says.

Ms. Abisha’s prototype has a 12-m pole, that may rotate in all 4 instructions, and two arms and clamps, which transfer backwards and forwards, to reap cloves. The battery-run tools will be operated by the farmer from its driver’s seat. It can be utilized to reap cloves from tall timber and retailer them in a bag.

At current, Kanniyakumari cloves accounts for practically 65% of the nation’s manufacturing and was awarded the geographical indication (GI) tag just a few years in the past for its distinctive qualities, reminiscent of excessive focus of unstable oil content material and aroma.

During the three-day pageant, 150 occasions are being held, with greater than 13,000 college students from varied schools and deemed universities within the nation collaborating. Prizes value ₹20 lakh will probably be given on the valedictory occasion, which will probably be held on Sunday.