Lesson 6. Agricultural Mechanization Policy Objectives and Recommendations

The agricultural mechanization should lead to the followings:

(i) Agricultural mechanization should contribute to sustainable increase in yields and cropping intensity so that the planned growth rates in agricultural production are achieved.

(ii) The income of agricultural workers (cultivators and labourers) should increase at a satisfactory rate so that the disparity between urban and rural incomes is eliminated, and the agricultural worker given his rightful opportunity to lead a dignified life.

(iii) The benefits of agricultural mechanization should be extended to all categories of farmers with due consideration to small and marginal farmers and to all regions of the country especially the rained areas.

(iv) Agricultural mechanization should make the environment worker friendly especially for the women workers by reducing drudgery and health hazards and by improving safety in production operations.

(v) Agricultural mechanization should contribute to conservation of land and water resources and to more efficient use of inputs such as seeds, chemicals, fertilizers and energy.

(vi) Loss of agricultural production, both in quality and quantity, should be reduced through timely operations and improvement in equipment and   techniques.

(vii) Agricultural mechanization should lead to a reduction in costs of production of different commodities, increase in income of farmers and an increase in the competitiveness of Indian agricultural produce and products in the world market.

Major recommendations while formulating agricultural mechanization policy of the country:

(i) To sustain growing population of the country by 2025, the agricultural production will have to be increased by 85% and the productivity by 100% from the present level. This will require intensification of agriculture. With weather conditions becoming more erratic, to perform the farm operations timely, the energy input to agriculture will increase from present level of 1.3 kW/ha to 3.9 kW/ha by 2025 to achieve the desired level of food grain and horticultural production. About 65% of this power will have to come through tractors and self-propelled machines.

(ii) More than 60% of cultivated land is under rain-fed and dry-land areas. Development and popularization of agricultural machinery under varied conditions are required.

(iii) Farm operations for horticultural crops and hill agriculture are highly labour intensive. These will need to be appropriately mechanized for drudgery reduction, productivity enhancement.

(iv) Development and adoption of precision farming techniques on large scale for higher input use efficiency. This will require regular training of scientists and farmers on modern technologies.

(v) Conservation agriculture technologies such as zero-till drill, till plant machine. Roto-till drill, strip till drill, raised bed and furrow planting systems with straw management will have to be adopted on large area.

(vi) The male to female ratio among the agricultural workers is expected to change from present 60:40 to 45:55 by 2025. This will necessitate development of gender-specific tools and equipment and imparting training to female farm workers on operation and maintenance of farm tools and equipment.

(vii) Farm mechanization data will have to be collected on regular basis and periodically updated to formulate viable Farm Mechanization Policy.

(viii) With power operated farm equipment becoming more popular, the accident rates are also on increase. Collection of data on agricultural accidents, analysis of their causes and development and implementation of appropriate remedial measures would be required.

(ix) With fossil fuel becoming scarce, alternate renewable fuels like bio-diesel for tractors, IC engines and automobiles will have to be developed and used on mass scale. Many oil bearing non-edible and edible seeds besides jatropha can be used to prepare bio- diesel of good quality to meet the liquid fuel requirements.

(x) Regular & adequate power supply to rural areas through State Electricity Boards (SEB) is likely to remain uncertain in most states in near future. Keeping this in view, decentralized power supply system based on locally available biomass and renewable sources of energy may be set-up to meet the requirements.

(xi) Over 600 million tonnes of available biomass can be converted to briquettes or other forms for minimizing the dependence on conventional energy sources.

(xii) For optimum utilization of scarce natural resources, efficient irrigation systems such as drip and sprinklers with high precision and on farm water management practices will have to be developed/adopted. Improving efficiency of irrigation systems and pumping systems is essential to save energy and water.

(xiii) Equipment, technologies and approaches need to be developed for loss reduction and value addition of agriculture produce in production catchments

(xiv) Development of appropriate technologies for value addition, handing, packaging, storage, transportation and marketing of agricultural products for safe and quality food.

(xv) Establishment of agro-processing units in production catchments for creation of employment and income generation activities to check migration to urban areas, to minimize post-harvest losses and increase returns to the farmers.

(xvi) Despite the fact that good design of equipment are available at R & D level, non-availability of quality machines through manufacturers is one of the bottlenecks in mechanization. Manufacturers of agricultural machinery will need training & orientation on quality product manufacturing through modern manufacturing technology.

(xvii) Involvements of State Departments of Agriculture and Agricultural Engineering in transfer of technology activities would need to be formalized and strengthened.

(xviii) The holding size is decreasing progressively. With very low availability of agricultural land, particularly in Northern states, sustenance of farmers through agriculture is becoming difficult. Contact farming with consolidation of lands for borderless and cooperative farming for high value crops would be required.

(xix) Creation of farm implement bank owned by entrepreneurs, Farmers’ Cooperatives/Agri-business centres to supply machines on custom hire basis to small & marginal farmers.

Crop and site specific agricultural mechanization and agro-based small and medium enterprises in rural sector using a proper blend of conventional and renewable energy sources will facilitate in enhancing of agricultural productivity and profitability resulting into higher income to farmers and better quality of life.  It would also helps in mitigating the effect of continuous population growth combined with dwindling and shrinking natural resources and an increasing demand for higher standard of living and thereby increasing enormous pressure on world’s natural environment and its food supply.

There is direct nexus in energy and agricultural production and productivity (Fig. 1). In India where 70% of the petroleum products used is imported and electrical power is costly and in short supply. Excessive use of commercial energies increases unit cost of production and products reduces profitability and global competiveness eroded. In a village eco-system, about 80% of the total energy goes to domestic sector of which about 80% is used for cooking mostly derived from crop and animal residues and fuel wood. Animal solid and liquid wastes which are rich source of energy and plant nutrients is converted in to sundried dung cakes used as fuel wood substitute. Liquid wastes are often lost. It is under utilization of this valuable natural resource. Farmers have to wait for energization of their irrigation pumps. Grid power, usually in short supply, is 2-3 times cheaper than diesel generator power or engine operated option. As a result there is emphasis on harnessing new and renewable sources of energy like biogas, producers gas, biodiesel, wind mills, improved chulhas, briquetted fuels, solar cookers and solar water heaters, solar dryers, photovoltaic irrigation pumps and illumination systems, mini and micro hydro power units wherever feasible. There are about 4 million family and community biogas plants installed in the country used largely for cooking. Wind farms are generating substantial quantities of electricity for power grid and off-grid applications. Blending of petrol with ethanol has already started. Efforts are on for biodiesel production and biodiesel systems. Energy needs to be conserved and commercial energies supplemented and substituted with new and renewable sources of energy. New options are being tapped like geo-thermal, tidal power, solar and biomass, thermal power units etc.

L 6 fig.1

Last modified: Friday, 21 March 2014, 11:58 AM