The slopes of mountains and the sporadic land patterns do not allow farmers to use tractors to sow or weed on a large scale. Adding to their woes is the climate in the sub-Himalayan hill ranges, which changes drastically. Raj Kumar, a resident of a remote village named Dalchera, Hamirpur district in Himachal Pradesh was another victim of these natural impediments, which exhorted him to innovate a novel means. Utilizing the second hand wheel and chimta from a wreck of his old bicycle, Raj Kumar invented a strange-looking but an ingenious tool for weeding and sowing his fields. This manually operated weeder was named ‘Halodu’, which would soon change lives of many such farmers living in hilly areas.

Halodu is not only useful for weeding operation in maize crop, but also for line sowing of maize as well as crops like spinach, sarson and coriander sown in kitchen gardens. Farmers typically used draft power for inter-crop operations in maize. Due to the deteriorating practice of bullock rearing by most farmers, there was a necessity of some low-cost technology as the use of tractors was too costly and less effective in hilly areas. Halodu is not just a cost effective innovation that helps farmers, but also helps in preserving the natural landscapes by avoiding the use of tractors that emit harmful green house gases.