Farm Power & Machinery Management 3(2+1)

Lesson 3. Major Problems Facing Mechanization in Indian Agriculture

The country should follow following strategies for sustainable agricultural production: 

(i) Scientific water resource management through in-situ and ex-situ harvesting and conservation of rainwater and its recycling, consumptive use of rain and groundwater, increasing ground water efficiency through efficient irrigation, ground water recharge as well as ensuring management of watersheds and command areas.

(ii) Sustainable management of soil resources by devising efficient agricultural production strategies and developing crop models/farming system

(iii) Integrated nutrient and pest management

(iv) Adopting farmer-friendly Farming Systems approach instead of Cropping System approach. This approach would call for diversification of agriculture to include livestock, fisheries, horticulture, agro-forestry etc.

(v) Partnership and participatory research by involving private sectors and NGO’s.

(vi) Promoting agri-business such as processing, marketing, infrastructures and environments.

(vii) Promoting post-harvest technologies and value addition.

(viii) Ensuring environmental sustainability.

(ix) Reorienting agricultural research priorities.  It should be program based, demand driven, problem solving and in participatory mode. 

Efforts have been made in the past and are continuing to develop region and commodity specific technology packagers for greater efficiency and economic.  On the basis of experiences gained and database generated so far, it is possible to claim that farm mechanization and appropriate post-harvest management lead to higher agricultural productivity and profitability (Tables 1 and 2).  Engineering interventions/inputs augment overall food availability by 15-25% through production and processing routes.

 

 Table 1: Possible augmentation of food production in India through engineering interventions.

Engineering intervention	Augmentation of total food production and value addition, %
Farm Mechanization Post Harvest Management Value Addition	10-15 5-10 25-400

 

Table 2: Possible contribution of post-harvest management and value addition in augmenting total food production and availability

Post production operation	Level of augmentation
Harvesting at physiological maturity	5-10% additional yield
Cleaning and grading	10-15% higher market price
Drying and storage	10-15% higher market price
Handling and transport	5-10% loss reduction
Milling (Rice)	3-7% higher yield of total rice
Milling Pulse	5-10% higher dal yield
Value addition	25-400% depending upon the commodity and products
PHT is commodity and location specific.

 

Major Constraints of Farm Mechanization: India faces major constraints in mechanizing farm operations such as:

(i) Power availability varies highly from one state to the other as well as according to the agro-climatic regions (Table 3).

(ii) Annual investment on tractors, power tillers, engines as well as farm equipment for production agriculture & post-harvest handling & processing is more than Rs.50,000 crores per annum compared to as combined annual investment of Rs. 24,000 crores on fertilizer, certified seeds and plant protection chemicals. Due to non-availability of farm mechanization policy, inadequate guidance and poor information dissemination, the farmer often faces problems in proper selection, use and management of these costly resources.  

(iii) Average size of operational holdings is shrinking leading to higher percentage of marginal, small and semi-medium holdings. This is making individual ownership of agriculture machinery economically unviable.  Following measures are suggested:

(iv) Establishment of Farmer’s Cooperatives and Farm Machinery Utilization Centers to extend the benefits of farm machinery utilization through custom hiring and multi-farm use.

(v) Encourage training, financial incentives, subsidized loans and low interest credit to encourage procurement of high capacity equipment by custom operators to ensure sufficient turnover and income.

(vi) Encourage farming for specific crops to produce raw material for processing industries/other organizations.

 

Table 3: Farm power availability and average productivity of food grains in India in 2001.

Name of the State	Farm Power Availability (kW/ha)	Foodgrain productivity (kg/ha)
Punjab	3.50	4,032
Haryana	2.25	3,088
Uttar Pradesh	1.75	2,105
Andhra Pradesh	1.60	1,995
Uttranachal	1.60	1,712
West Bengal	1.25	2,217
Tamil Nadu	0.900	2262
Karnataka	0.90	1,406
Kerala	0.80	2,162
Assam	0.80	1,443
Bihar	0.80	1,622
Gujarat	0.80	1,169
Madhya Pradesh	0.80	907
Himachal Pradesh	0.70	1,500
Maharashtra	0.70	757
Rajasthan	0.65	884
Jharkhand	0.60	1,095
Jammu & Kashmir	0.60	1,050
Orissa	0.60	799
Chhattisgarh	0.60	799
All India	1.35	1,723

 

Focal Areas of Agricultural Mechanization: The country needs to give more focus on followings to achieve satisfactory mechanization:

(i) Mechanization of Rain-fed Farming

(ii) Mechanization of Horticulture Crops

(iii) Mechanization of Sugarcane Cultivation

(iv) Mechanization of Cotton Cultivation

(v) Mechanization of Pulses

(vi) Mechanization of Oil Seeds

(vii) Precision Machinery for Important Cropping Systems

(viii) Mechanization of Seed Production & Processing

(ix) Protected Cultivation Technology and Environmental Control

(x) Resource Conservation Machinery

(xi) Alternate Fuels for Diesel Engines and Tractors

(xii) Post-harvest processing equipment for loss reduction and value addition