Farm Mechanization: Nature of Development

Agriculture is in transition today, with the coexistence of traditional and mechanized farming. The mechanized inputs and resources have a direct bearing on timeliness and precision of farm operations, increase in production and productivity, higher income generation, reduction in crops and food losses, reduction in drudgery, and improvement in the farming work environment. This chapter elucidates the nature of farm mechanization that has been taking place across nations of the developed and the developing world. Farm mechanization connotes the application of machinery, tools, and devices as an alternative to those traditionally performed by bullocks, and other draught animals or by human labour. The machinery included here cover farm operations, such as soil tillage, planting, cultivation, forage harvesting, grain and fibre harvesting, vegetable, fruit and nut harvesting, transport and elevation, chemical applications, and sorting and packaging. Needless to indicate that farm mechanization scenario varies from region to region, and country to country. The scenario described here covers the countries of north and south America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, China, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the East and South African nations, and West and Central Africa. India is one of the first nations among the Asia-Pacific countries that fuelled the farm equipment market in the recent decades, with a surge in demand for machinery, like tractors, power tillers, combine harvesters, rotavators, threshers, and rice transplanters. Research studies indicate input variables to determine the level of mechanization or the mechanization index. Estimating the state of mechanization in smallholdings is a challenge since farm power utilization primarily comes from animate sources. The economic analysis is an approach to calculate the mechanization index by taking into account economic factors, i.e. the cost of using mechanical, animal, and human power. It is also a ratio of total mechanical power and the total power used in a particular crop but from an economic point of view. The human energy expenditure is an apparent critical factor in evaluating farm mechanization. The contribution elucidates various numerical expressions that have been attempted to arrive at the mechanization indices for application in cropping sectors. Besides, the ergonomics and safety issues in farm mechanization are elaborated.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Environment and Disaster Management, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (Deemed University), Kolkata, West Bengal, India P. K. Nag
2. AICRP, Ergonomics and Safety in Agriculture, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (ICAR), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India L. P. Gite

1. P. K. Nag