<i>Mobile husking mills make their life easy </i>

Mobile husking mills have made the life of people of Gaibandha, particularly housewives, in shoal areas along Brahmaputra basin easy.
Now they husk paddy quickly and without much effort as they do not use traditional husking pedal.
The housewives remained busy all over the day as traditional husking pedal took two to three hours to husk only a maund of paddy, whereas the mobile husking mills do the job within only 10 minutes.
While visiting village Chandanesher of Fazlupur union in Fulchhari upazila, this correspondent witnessed the villagers thronged at a place with boiled paddy for husking by the mobile mill.
It takes Tk 30 for husking a maund of paddy. The charges vary and they go up when owners have to go to remote places, said Amjad Hossain, a mill owner. A mobile husking mills costs Tk 45,000 for it requires one 7-HP diesel engine to operate it, he added.
"Now, we can save huge time by husking paddy through the mobile mills," said Jarina Begum, a housewife.
There are seven such mills in this union. The mill owners are ready to go to any place for husking paddy.
The housewives used to pass much of her time in husking paddy by the traditional husking pedal before. Moreover, at least four people are needed to operate a pedal, said farmer Hafizer Mia.
"I earned Tk 7,000 per month by operating my mobile husking mill and every month I could save Tk 1, 000 from the amount, " said mill owner Amjad.
The mills owners work only six months a year. They remain totally jobless during the rainy season. For this, they charge an extra Tk 40 per maund during the harvesting period of boro crop, he said.