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Edward Bals, an Austrian who escaped from
Hitler’s Germany to work in Asia, was struck by the
labour involved in carrying large amounts of water
up Sri Lankan hilIsides to spray blister blight on
the tea bushes. He realised that good coverage of
the crop was essential for effective spraying and
that this would be most efficiently achieved by
producing spray droplets of a uniform size. He
founded Micron Sprayers over 30 years ago to make a
sprayer which produced only even-sized droplets
appropriate to the pest target.
The mist of droplets thrown off by a car wheel
from a wet road gave him the idea of using a
spinning disc. He designed toothed discs, now the
central feature on Micron’s hand-held Ulvas (Ultra-
Low-Volume Applicators).
These are battery-powered, need only simple
tools for maintenance and rely on wind and gravity
to carry droplets into the crop. For insecticides
and fungicides, they require only one to five
litres of solution per hectare, saving time and
effort. Traditional sprayers use up to 200 litres
per hectare. Ulvas make insect-killing feasible for
small farmers with a minimum of insecticide.
Despite many setbacks, Mr Bals had faith in his
idea which he believed could increase the crop
yields in developing countries. The technique has
finally taken off over the last ten years. Almost
all cotton-growers in many African countries have
taken up the Ulva technique and have doubled their
yields. Previously, only half of them would use
heavy, conventional knapsack sprayers. The Ulva is
also widely used in South-East Asia and has been
copied in India and Zimbabwe.
Against weeds, Micron produced another machine,
the Herbi, also in widespread use, which reduces
the drudgery of hand-weeding. Micron also produces
a vehicle-mounted sprayer for locust control, and
spray equipment for aircraft and mechanised
agriculture.
Over 90 per cent of Micron’s output is exported,
mainly to Africa and Asia. It has won a Queen’s
Award for technological innovation.
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