Farm Power & Machinery Management 3(2+1)

Lesson 4. Farm mechanization index

Sidhu (2001) developed a system dynamics model of energy use in crop production in Punjab. He also developed relations for calculating the level of mechanization for the four major crops of Punjab, namely wheat, paddy, maize and cotton, on yearly basis. The degree of mechanization of a single operation in a crop for a particular year was calculated on the basis of the number of machines available per year  to perform the various operations within the recommended time period. This value for a single operation was then multiplied by its energy consumption ratio for each operation and its weighted mean was computed to obtain the degree of mechanization for the crop for that year. The relation developed was as under:

\[DO{M_i} = \frac{{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^n {DO{M_{ij}} \times E{C_{ij}}} }}{{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^n {E{C_{ij}}} }}\]       ( i = 1, 4)               - (1)

where

i  represent the crop (i=1 implies wheat, i=2 implies paddy, i=3 implies maize, i=4 implies cotton)                                                           

            DOM_i = Degree of mechanization of i^th crop for a particular year.

n = number of major operations (=6).

DOM _ij = Degree of mechanization of j^th  operation for the i^th crop.

EC_ij  = Energy consumption weight of  j^th operation for the i^th crop.

There were some limitations in the farm mechanization indices developed by the various researchers. The model developed by Sidhu (2001) also did not give the correct picture as the level of mechanization of paddy was calculated to be greater than that of wheat even though the nursery sowing and transplanting operations for the paddy crop were still carried out manually.

An attempt was made to develop a farm mechanization indictor by Khurana Rohinish based on parameters that influence the level of mechanization of various farm operations necessary for raising a crop, viz., number of machines and equipment available for a given area, extent of use of these equipment, time saving as well as economic benefits accruing from the use of these machines. For proceeding with the development of the farm mechanization indicator, the agricultural operations for most of the crops were divided into four categories viz seed-bed preparation and sowing/planting, irrigation, weeding and spraying and harvesting and threshing. These classes were defined keeping in view the fact that as the composite machines was available and these were being used for two or more number of operations simultaneously. For example, strip-till drill and no-till drill combine the tillage and sowing operations, and similarly a harvester combine combines the harvesting and threshing operations. Application of weedicide, pesticide or insecticide in many crops is done by spraying by the use of same equipment.

Computation of mechanization index: The assumptions made for determining the degree of farm mechanization are:

(i) There are sufficient numbers of tractors available with the farmers to which various agricultural machinery can be attached for completing the different farming operations in time.

(ii) Standard correlation equations such as quadratic, Wood’s curve, Robb’s parabolic, Nadler’s curve etc. have been used to predict the numbers of agricultural machinery.

(iii) The farm machines to be introduced later in the study period are assumed to take a straight line growth.

(iv) The operations performed and their replication frequencies have been generalized on the basis of information collected from farmers, researchers, and extension specialists.

(v) One working day was taken equal to 8 hours.

(vi) The hand tools being the basic implements using manual labour have not been considered while estimating the degree of mechanization.

(vii) The farm machinery for different crops occurring during the same period is assumed to be distributed proportionately over the cropped area in the state.

With these assumptions the degree of mechanization was calculated as mentioned in the following steps:

1. Calculation of cost of operation for an agricultural machine

\[(C{o_{m/c}}) = (F{r_i} \times {R_i} \times C{h_i})\]                - (2)

where:

Co_m/c – the cost of operating i^th machine, Rs/ha

Fr – fraction of total crop area operated upon by the machine

R – replications of the machine required to complete the particular farm operation

Ch_m/c – hiring cost of the machine, Rs/ha

i – the number of different machines available for the operation

 2. Calculation of cost of operation with the complete set of machines available for that operation

\[C{o_{op}} = \sum\limits_{i = 1}^n {(C{o_{m/c}}} {)_i}\]              - (3)

where:

Co_op – Total cost for one complete operation, Rs/ha

 i – number of different machines available for the operation

3. Calculation of mechanization level for a single machine.

\[O{M_{m/c}} = \frac{{CAF \times N \times Cap \times H \times D}}{{A \times R}}\]            - (4)

where:

OM_m/c – the mechanization level for one machine

CAF – crop area factor defined as the ratio of crop area to the total area

N – number of machines in the state

Cap – effective field capacity of the machine, ha/h

H – hours of daily work

D – number of days available for performing the operation

R – replications of the machine required

A – crop area, ha

4. Calculating the mechanization level for a given operation:

A number of machines are used to perform the operation, the mechanization level for one operation was calculated as:

\[L{M_{op}} = \frac{{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^n {[{{(O{M_{m/c}})}_i} \times {{(C{o_{m/c}})}_i}]} }}{{C{o_{op}}}}\]             - (5)

where:

LM_op – the mechanization level for a operation

n – the number of different machines used to complete the operation

OM_m/c – the mechanization level for each of the n machines calculated separately

i - the number of different machines available for the operation

 5. Calculating the total cost of operation of all the machines

\[C{o_T} = \sum\limits_{k = 1}^4 {{{(C{o_{op}})}_k}} \]     - (6)

where:

Co_op – total cost of one complete operation by n different machines, Rs/ha

k – number of operations (= 4)

Co_T – Total cost of all the operation for a crop, Rs/ha

6. Calculating the weighted level of mechanization of each operation:

\[W{L_k} = \frac{{L{M_k} \times C{o_{op}}}}{{C{o_T}}}\]          - (7)

where:

WL_k – weighted degree of mechanization for k^th operation

LM_k – mechanization level of the operation calculated earlier for k^th operation

Co_op – cost of the k^th operation, Rs/ha

Co_T – Total cost of operation of a crop, Rs/ha

k – number of the operation, (k=1,4)

 7. Calculation of the degree of mechanization for the crop for a given year:

\[D{M_{crop}} = \sum\limits_{k = 1}^4 {W{L_k}} \]                   - (8)

where:

WL_k – weighted degree of mechanization for kth operation calculated separately   

DM _crop – Degree of Mechanization for the given crop in a particular year

The methodology developed for calculation of the degree of mechanization was used to evaluate the mechanization index for different farm operations for the two main crops, viz., wheat and paddy for the state of Punjab. The data for the calculations pertained to the period 1985-2003. The farm operations with mechanization index below 0.50 were taken to be less mechanized i.e. low level of mechanization and those with mechanization index above 0.75 were considered highly mechanized i.e. higher level of mechanization. Since there is nexus between farm productivity and degree of mechanization, the operations with low level of mechanization (<0.50) would require greater attention from researchers.

In the state of Punjab, almost all the operations for cultivation of wheat crop have been mechanized to an extent that there are two or more alternate technologies available for each of the selected operations. Tillage and sowing is the most mechanized operation for wheat (Fig. 1). The level of mechanization of tillage and sowing operation of wheat increased from 0.66 in 1985 to reach high level of mechanization at 1.16 in the year 2003. This has mainly been because of the rapid increase in the number of tillage machinery such as disc harrow, cultivator and rotavator, and large scale use of seed-cum fertilizer drills for sowing of wheat. Further there has been introduction of new machines such as strip-till drill and zero-till drill for the tillage and sowing of wheat resulting in a further increase in the mechanization index. This is expected to increase to 1.19 by the year 2010.

The next most mechanized operation for wheat is the harvesting and threshing operation. The level of mechanization of harvesting and threshing operation for wheat was high at the start of the study period i.e. 1985 at 1.02 because of use of threshers at a large scale and combines to a limited scale (Fig. 1). This further increased to 1.10 by the year 2003 mainly due to the large scale use of combines in Punjab fields on custom hiring reaching a figure of 1.11 by 2010.

The weeding and spraying operation is the least mechanized operation for wheat. The level of mechanization in 1985 was low at 0.38 (Fig. 1). This increased to a high level of mechanization at 0.81 in the year 2003 because of large scale use of knap sack sprayers only for spraying which are available in very large numbers in Punjab. Although, tractor sprayers are available, but these are used only in the cotton crop.

There are sufficient number of both diesel engine and electric motor driven tubewells, due to which the level of mechanization for the irrigation operation in wheat remains between medium and high levels of mechanization, increasing from 0.66 in the year 1985 to 0.94 in the year 2003 (Fig. 1).

The composite affect of the level of mechanization of the various operations led to the overall level of mechanization of the wheat crop. The mechanization index for wheat for the year 1985 was medium at 0.69, when the mechanization level of tillage and sowing operation was also at medium level (Fig. 1). The mechanization index became high in the year 1987 and increased beyond unity in the year 1996, reaching 1.05 by the year 2003. The overall mechanization index is expected to reach 1.13 by the year 2010.

Paddy is the major crop of kharif season, occupying nearly 60-65 percent of the cropped area. The tillage operation for paddy is done using the abundantly available machines like the cultivators and plankers. Some newly developed machines like the rotavators and the pulverizing rollers are also being used after being introduced lately. However, the nursery sowing and transplanting operations are still done manually even though paddy transplanters have been introduced. Due to this the level of mechanization for tillage and sowing was 0.56 in 1985, which increases to unity in 1994 and still rises to 0.96 by the year 2003, mainly because of the increasing numbers of tillage machinery available for the seed-bed preparation (Fig. 2). This would further increase to nearly 0.97 by 2010. The high number of machines available for tillage and puddling keeps the level of mechanization of tillage comparable to that of wheat. The level of mechanization for irrigation operation was at 0.66 in 1985 rising up to a medium level of mechanization at 0.78 in 2003, which is less than that of wheat. This is because of the number of irrigations required for paddy is very high (up to 27 irrigations), even though there are a large number of tubewells available.

Similar to wheat, weeding and spraying in paddy is the least mechanized operation with the level of mechanization which was 0.38 in 1985, which may increase to 0.64 by the year 2003, that too with only the knap-sack sprayers being used in the operation (Fig. 2). Harvesting and threshing operation, similar to wheat crop, is a highly mechanized operation, with its level of mechanization 0.80 in 1985, and reaching 0.98 in the year 2003 and it was predicted to increase to 1.02 by the year 2010. Combines, now, are quite extensively being used for harvesting of paddy.

The mechanization index for paddy was medium at 0.64 in 1985 due to the manual transplanting operation and low level of mechanization of weeding and spraying operation (Fig. 2). This increased to high level of mechanization in the year 1990 due to the increasing number of tillage machinery available in the state of Punjab. The mechanization index for paddy presently is 0.87 and is expected to rise to 0.90 by the year 2010.