Tractor: Agricultural Machinery
STATUS OF FARM MECHANIZATION IN INDIA
Agricultural Machinery Industry in India (Manufacturing, marketing and mechanization promotion)
Gyanendra Singh Director, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal ABSTRACT Farm mechanization helps in effective utilization of inputs to increase the productivity of land and labour. Besides it helps in reducing the drudgery in farm operations. The early agricultural mechanization in India was greatly influenced by the technological development in England. Irrigation pumps, tillage equipment, chaff cutters, tractors and threshers were gradually introduced for farm mechanization. The high yielding varieties with assured irrigation and higher rate of application of fertilizers gave higher returns that enabled farmers to adopt mechanization inputs, especially after Green revolution in 1960s. The development of power thresher in 1960, with integrated Bhusa making attachment and aspirator blower and mechanical sieves for grain and straw separation, was the major achievement of Indian engineers. These threshers were widely adopted by the farmers. Gradually demand for other farm machinery such as reapers and combine harvesters also increased. Equipment for tillage, sowing, irrigation, plant protection and threshing have been widely accepted by the farmers. Even farmers with small holdings utilize many improved farm equipment through custom hiring to ensure timeliness of farming operations. The present trend in agricultural mechanization is for high capacity machines through custom hiring and for contractual field operations. However, mechanization of horticulture, plantation crops and commercial agriculture is yet to be introduced in the country. The pace of farm mechanization in the country accelerated with the manufacture of agricultural equipment by the local industries. With the modest beginning of manufacture of tractors in 1960s with foreign collaboration, to-day the Indian farm machinery industries meet the bulk of
Agricultural Machinery Industry in India (Manufacturing, marketing and mechanization promotion)
Gyanendra Singh Director, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal ABSTRACT Farm mechanization helps in effective utilization of inputs to increase the productivity of land and labour. Besides it helps in reducing the drudgery in farm operations. The early agricultural mechanization in India was greatly influenced by the technological development in England. Irrigation pumps, tillage equipment, chaff cutters, tractors and threshers were gradually introduced for farm mechanization. The high yielding varieties with assured irrigation and higher rate of application of fertilizers gave higher returns that enabled farmers to adopt mechanization inputs, especially after Green revolution in 1960s. The development of power thresher in 1960, with integrated Bhusa making attachment and aspirator blower and mechanical sieves for grain and straw separation, was the major achievement of Indian engineers. These threshers were widely adopted by the farmers. Gradually demand for other farm machinery such as reapers and combine harvesters also increased. Equipment for tillage, sowing, irrigation, plant protection and threshing have been widely accepted by the farmers. Even farmers with small holdings utilize many improved farm equipment through custom hiring to ensure timeliness of farming operations. The present trend in agricultural mechanization is for high capacity machines through custom hiring and for contractual field operations. However, mechanization of horticulture, plantation crops and commercial agriculture is yet to be introduced in the country. The pace of farm mechanization in the country accelerated with the manufacture of agricultural equipment by the local industries. With the modest beginning of manufacture of tractors in 1960s with foreign collaboration, to-day the Indian farm machinery industries meet the bulk of
References: Bureau of Indian Standards. 1995 Government of India. 1972, 77, 82 and 87. Indian Livestock Census, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture. Government of India. 1992. Indian Agriculture in Brief, 24th Edition, Directorate of Economics and Statistics Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Government of India. Government of India. 1994 &1995. Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Government of India. Input Survey 1981-82 and 1986-87, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. Singh, G. 1997. Agricultural Mechanization and AgroProcessing after Independence. Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal. Singh, G. and Bharadwaj, K.C. 1985. Directory of Agricultural Machinery and Manufacturers, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal. Singh, Gajendra; Singh, Gyanendra and Nachiket Kotwaliwale. 1999. Agricultural Production and processing technology for women in Indian agriculture. International Journal of Gender, Technology and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, May-August, 3(2): 259-278. Singh, Gyanendra. 1998. An analytical approach to farm mechanization in India-agricultural machinery development and promotion. Journal of Rural Development 7(2): 297-319. Singh, Gyanendra. 1994. Weight matrix of Indian cattle and their draught power. Indian Journal of Agricultural x 173 x STATUS OF FARM MECHANIZATION IN INDIA Engineering, 4 (34):100-106. Singh, Gyanendra. 1999. Characteristic and use of draught animal power in India. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 69 (8): 621-627. Singh, Gyanendra. 1999. Agricultural Engineering in 2000. Yojna, November, 43(11): 10-15. Singh, Gyanendra. 2000. Modernization of Agricultural in India Part I Farm mechanization. Agricultural Situation in India, January. Singh, Gyanendra. 2000. Modernization of Agriculture in India (Part II) Agro-Processing and Agribusiness. Agricultural Situation in India, January. Singh, Gyanendra. 2000. Growth pattern and performance characteristics of tractors used in India. Journal of Institution of Agricultural Engineers (UK), Landwards, Spring, pp 17-25. Singh, Gyanendra and Chandra, H. 2001. Growth trends in area and productivity affecting total food grains production in Madhya Pradesh. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, Agricultural Situation in India, February. Singh, Gyanendra and Chandra, H. 2000. Analytical approach to growth dynamics of agricultural inputs and their effect in increasing productivity in Madhya Pradesh. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, Agricultural Situation in India, March. Singh, Gyanendra and D. De. 1999. Quantification of a mechanization indicator for Indian agriculture. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, ASAE. !5(3): 197-204. Singh, Gyanendra and Ojha, T.P. 1993. Agricultural Engineering Research Promotion by ICAR during VIII Plan. Agricultural Engineering To-day (34): 42-98. x 174 x