Loading the tractor on the back of my pick up for the maiden ride home! Actually it is a 12 horsepower Jinasena Tractor under the Agrimec brand name and is made in China. THe cost new with the discount was Rs154K or about $1350. It can plough quickly as one sits on it and drives it and the rear wheel spins controlled by the feet. Of course the ultimate would be to have a trailer to hook it to so I can haul the various from A to B but that is for another time. Of course this is all on borrowed money!! that has to be repaid!!
I drove to Polonnaruwa on my own on Thursday November 15th after delivering my weekly King Coconuts to the Golf Club in Colombo and the usual assortment of kades along the way.I dropped my report on the account of my visit to Paradise Farm in Kitulgala the previous day, to the owner of the 90 Acre farm on my way back to my farm. Getting off to an early start on Friday I went with three to the Jinasena office and with their manager went to Welikanda to pick up the tractor. We had it working shortly on arrival and the next day, started ploughing my paddy field ready for my paddy nursery sown later on that day. After the first ploughing of a few fields, as tradition would have it a crowd of boys took the tractor to the Minneriya Devale to get it blessed by the Minneriya deviyo on the bund of the massive Minneriya tank that supplies the water to my paddy field. I guess that is apt in that it is this water that feeds my soil.King Mahasen built this tank a long time ago and is the lifeline of the farmers in my area, I don't know how many acres are fed by this but I would hazaerd a guess and say at least 100,000.
Of course I am the only person who has this hood at the moment as I lucked out on seeing it at the dealer who had got the first ever trial sample which I bought and now the driver is screened from the sun. As a result a lot of heads turned at seeing this tractor with a sun shade!!!
I got back on Sunday with my weekly produce, and I also had to climb the mango tree to pluck the mangoes as my man had to go home urgently on Friday as his wife had come from a 4 year stint as a housemaid in Saudi Arabia. That is another story about the outcome of that visit!!
