Issues with Farm Mechanization

Why in news?

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in its recent report have raised concerns about farm mechanization in India.

What is farm mechanization?

• Farm mechanization is the application of engineering and technology in agricultural operations to do a job in a better way to improve productivity.
• Farm mechanization is technic which refers to only those activities normally occurring inside the boundaries of the farm unit or at the farm unit level.
• Farm machinery comprises equipment used at various stages of farm operations like
  • Seed bed preparation,
  • Soil working,
  • Seeding,
  • Planting and  plant protection,
  • Harvesting and threshing.

What are the benefits of farm mechanization?

• Timeliness of operation
• Precision of operation
• Enhancement of safety
• Reduction of hard working of labour
• Reduction of loss of crops and food products
• Increased productivity of land
• Increased economic return to farmers
• Improvement of work environment
• Progress and prosperity in rural areas

What are the issues with farm mechanization?

• Fragmented land-holdings
• Practice of subsistence agriculture
• Higher participation of small and marginal farmers in agriculture
• Lack of awareness in using the technology
• Lack of skilled personnel to produce farm machinery
• Diverse soil conditions and cropping patterns
• High cost of equipments’ and inadequate after-sale services
• Lack of credit access to buy farm equipments
• Low penetration of farm machinery with 40-45%
• Tedious acquiring process of subsidised farm machinery
• Less focus on non-tractors farm industry
• Indian producers receive no production subsidy when compared to Chinese equipments’
• Feminisation of agriculture and the need to train them

What could be done?

• Skill shortages - The Agricultural Skills Council of India should work at the district level to address skill shortages on the demand side.
• PPP - Public-Private Partnerships with custom hiring centres may be useful.

Custom Hiring Centre (CHC) are basically a unit comprising a set of farm machinery and equipment meant for hiring by farmers of small, marginal and poor farmers at subsidized rates.

• Educational courses - ICAR institutes can offer short courses to address skills shortages and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) can also be leveraged to address repair and maintenance gap.
• Banking - Sensitise the banking industry about the importance of farm machinery.
• R & D - Intensification of Research & Development to produce market oriented devices

Quick facts

References

1. The Hindu Business Line | Issues With Farm Mechanization
2. The Hindu│Business Line NCAER Report
3. NCAER│About NCAER
4. ICAR│About ICAR
5. ICAR│Advantages Of Farm Mechanization