Farm Power & Machinery

Human power

• Human power is the main source of energy for operating small implements and tools at the farm. Stationary work like chaff cutting, water lifting, threshing, winnowing etc. and field work like weeding, broadcasting are also done by manual labour. An average man can develop maximum power of about 0.1 hp and women labour can develop 0.05 hp power for doing farm work. But now a day the availability of human power for farm operations is depleting. The human power working in the field is shown in Plate 1.1.
• The advantages of human power are; it is easily available and can be used for all types of work. The limitations of human energy are the costliest power compared to all other forms of power, very low efficiency, requires full maintenance when not in use and affected by weather condition and seasons.



Plate : 1.1 A view of human labour working in the field