Gopal Surtia is a well-known figure in Gujarat's Baroda district for his handy innovation.

Until few years Surtia was only known as the son of a well-known Gujarati singer Parakram Singh, now he is a household name in the state.

Surtia has made a hand driven sprayer, which is an easy-to-use and effective apparatus that can spray pesticides in up to an acre of land in just a 3-4 hours.

The innovation has come as a huge respite especially for farmers who face shortage of labour.

"We face an acute shortage of labour here. That's when I thought of making a simple hand pump that could be used by a single person. I carried out several experiments before making the first model out of wood," said Surtia, rural scientist.

Surtia says that at one of National Innovation Foundation's Shodh Yatras he came across Dr Anil Gupta which is when his innovation was discovered.

The foundation encouraged him and gave him Rs 15000 to further the research.

Spray's functioning

The sprayer consists of two wheels of a conventional bicycle, piston assembly, iron chassis and spray boom accessories.

The barrel carries the liquid to be sprayed. A small wheel is kept between the two bicycle wheels and this is what converts the circular motion of the wheels into the reciprocation motion of the pump piston.

A barrel filled with the pesticide is placed on the chassis. Pressure created in the pump sprays the pesticide through nozzles on the spraying rod.

This sprayer is quicker also because you can spray in two directions at the same time.

"The sprayer is used in farmlands where thorns are easily found. In case of a puncture it would be difficult for a farmer to get the tyre repaired and waste his time. To avoid this I have put not one but two tubes inside the tyres - an old tube inside covered by a new one outside," he said.

A Class 8 dropout, Gopalbhai started working on the idea in 1997.

His family was initially skeptical of his venture today they are proud of his achievement.

He's has not stopped at the hand sprayer, Surtia has more ideas to make a farmer's life easier: like building a robotic bullock.

For the time being Surtia is working on making the sprayer more cost effective and knowing his determination and passion for creating new things. It won't be too long before that happens.