BY Gajendra Singh, Former Deputy Director General (Engineering), ICAR, New Delhi, Founder Vice Chancellor, Doon University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
The first tractor to India was brought in 1914.There were only about 8,000 tractors in 1950 and these increased to 39,000 units in 1960. Engines (petrol, kerosene, and diesel) were being used for post-harvest processing like floor making, rice milling, grinding, etc.
India passed through severe food crisis during sixties and the situation was called “ship to mouth”. During later-half of this decade, important policy decisions were taken by the Government of India for bringing in transformation. The government assured procurement of main crops from farmers at minimum support price (MSP). There were only about 75,000 units of tractors (1 tractor/1800 ha) in India in 1967.
In 1970s in North India, with extensive irrigation canal network, actual command area of canals decreased significantly due to increased water requirement of high yield variety (HYV) crops. To grow HYV crops farmers not owning tube-well pumps purchased water from neighbour farmers and normally payment was made after the sale of harvested crop. This was the beginning of custom hiring of farm equipment. Thus, the first and most important mechanization in India was ground water pumping using engine and electric motor driven irrigation pumps.
As the volume of crop harvested increased manifold on irrigated farms using HYV seeds these farmers also invested in purchasing threshers, mainly for wheat crop, powered by the same engine or motor used for water pumping. Interestingly, initially many of the threshers were fabricated by local black-smiths in small towns using locally available materials, especially from discarded Persian wheels. Farmers not owning threshers hired these from neighbouring farmers mostly on share of produce basis.
In fact, the mechanization of agriculture in India was driven by assured price to farmers for their produce (wheat and rice initially). The intensification of agriculture was assisted by higher inputs of farm power, but also because the greater profitability of farming-generated surpluses that could be spent on capital equipment. With adoption of HYV seeds the number of tractors doubled by 1971 and 96 per cent of the tractors were privately owned on farms of over 10 ha in size. By 1980, the number of tractors was more than 500,000 (1 tractor/260 ha) which in 2010 reached about 4.0 million units (1 tractor/35 ha). At present, India is the largest producer of tractors in the world at annual production of about 700,000 units with export of over 10 per cent units.
Through all these years, the economics of ownership of most tractors had been justified by custom hiring for on-farm works as well as for off-farm transport and construction activities. The use of tractors in transport activities accounted for more than 50 per cent of average annual use of about 600 hours. Many small farmers also started owning tractors due to opportunity of custom hiring.
Also, over the years, due to rural electrification majority of the irrigation pumps are powered by electric motors and their size has increased due to lowering of water table in many areas. As the electricity to rural areas for agricultural purposes in India is subsidized most farmers either individually or jointly have installed tube-wells wherever ground water is available. The number of electric motor operated pumps increased from four million in 1981 to 20 million in 2010 and was estimated to be about 25 million in the year 2015. The number of diesel operated irrigation pumps has also increased from 3.3 million in 1981 to 6.7 million in 2010 and was estimated to be about 7 million in 2015. There was a phenomenal growth of farm equipment due to favourable government policies for promoting machinery manufacturing in private sector.
Power availability per hectare is a common indicator of mechanization. A strong linear relationship between power available and agricultural productivity was observed in case of India. The agricultural mechanization in India had large variations in terms of power availability varying from 0.60 kW/ha in Orissa to 3.7 kW/ha in Punjab during 2012. If the agricultural areas in other parts of India having reasonable water resources can have same level of mechanization as in Punjab the agricultural production in India can be increased to 450 million tons.
Figure1 Relationship between farm power and productivity in different
States of India (2012)
Due to concerted efforts, the total food grain production in India increased from 51 million tons during 1950, to 285 million tons in 2017-18. The use of chemical fertilizers increased from about 0.5 kg/ha in 1950 to about 160 kg/ha in 2017-18. The increased cropping intensity and higher quantities of inputs and outputs could no longer be effectively managed by animate power alone. Therefore, farmers adopted mechanical power extensively and the growth of farm power and agricultural machinery over last 50 years in India has been phenomenal. During 2017-18, the food grain productivity was about 2.2 tons/ha; cropping intensity: 142%; and power availability was about 2.22 kW/ha.
Sequence of Mechanization
The growth of the mechanization in India has followed the same general pattern found worldwide as given in the table below. Farm operations requiring high power inputs and low control are mechanized first (tillage, transport, water pumping, milling, threshing, etc.). Farm operations requiring medium levels of power and control are mechanized next (seeding, spraying, intercultural operations, etc.). Farm operations requiring high degree of control and low power inputs are mechanized last (transplanting, planting of vegetables, harvesting of fruits and vegetables, etc.). It happens so because any work, which is power intensive, can be done faster mechanically and at a lower cost. Whereas converting human knowledge into machine knowledge is difficult and costly.
Based on my experience in India, I would say that exploitation of ground water and water from ponds and small reservoirs in rural areas for irrigation should be the highest priority to increase agricultural productivity. This can be done by farmers mainly; provided supporting infrastructure is made available by the government and necessary equipment, spare parts and maintenance are provided by the private sector. For infrastructure markets connected by rural roads and offering reasonable price for farmers’ produce are necessary. Government should also provide electricity in rural areas for domestic, agricultural (for irrigation pumps) and agro-industries use. With assured irrigation farmers will be able to plant HYV seeds and can apply higher doses of fertilizers to get higher yield. With MSP for their produce farmers should make reasonable profit and invest in mechanization to purchase tractors, power tillers, trailers, threshers and other farm equipment.
Based on year-long survey (Singh and Chancellor, 1975), it was found that agricultural output of farms was related to energy inputs, irrespective of ownership of farm power sources (owned or rented) and the size of land holding had no effect on yield. Farmers with better management (i.e. timely operations, like sowing, irrigation, weeding, fertilizer and pesticide application; and proper amounts and right techniques of application) had higher yields than those with poor management.
It was also reported (Singh, 2001) that the economics of ownership of most tractors in India had been justified by custom hiring for on-farm works as well as for off-farm transport and construction activities. The use of tractors in transport activities accounted for about 50% of average annual use of 600 hours. Many small farmers also started purchasing tractors due to opportunity of custom hiring. Similarly, the ownership of many other farm machinery and equipment like, pumps for tube-wells, seed-drills and planters is economic due to renting out to other farmers. However, ownership of large threshers, laser land levellers and combine harvesters is mainly due to custom work.
The following facts and lessons demonstrate the pace of adoption and impact of agricultural mechanization in India:
The states with high rates of available power per hectare are the ones which have the highest yields. Four-wheel tractors dominated the farm power sector in India with very little use of two-wheel power tillers compared to other Asian countries.
Mechanization technologies were first adopted by the large farmers followed by medium scale farmers. The large numbers of such farmers in states like Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh played a critical role in facilitating the creation of a viable agricultural machinery and implements distribution and services sector. Such farmers were also the ones who were able to provide mechanization and other services to the more numerous semi medium and small holder farmers.
The assured support prices for the farmers produce as well as availability of off and on farm custom hire possibilities where agricultural machinery could be used further enhanced the profitability of acquiring agricultural mechanization inputs by farmers.
The high level of effective demand for agricultural machinery and equipment led to the creation of a competitive and viable manufacturing industry such that India became globally a leading player in this sector including becoming a net exporter.
The Government of India provided support services for research and development; testing and standards; as well as for human resources development in support of agricultural mechanization. The agricultural engineering programs established in the numerous state agricultural universities were instrumental for the success of agricultural mechanization in India.
Future Prospects for Mechanization in India
The future investment in agriculture will be guided by a number of factors. Sales data gathered over the past years indicates a growing preference for tractors in the 41 to 50 hp or higher hp range. High capacity machines will also be preferred in future, including rotary tiller, harrows, laser levelers, high clearance sprayers, planters, high capacity threshers and self-propelled and tractors drawn combines.
The custom hiring of mechanical power for tillage, irrigation, harvesting and threshing will be preferred by those farmers who cannot afford to own machines. The present trend in agricultural mechanization is for the high capacity machines to be used for custom hiring and for contractual field operations. Hand operated tools and implements will only grow very slowly as the number of agricultural workers increases. Animal operated implements will decrease due to the continued decrease in the number of draft animals. In contrast, the use of power operated farm equipment will increase rapidly.
The tractor population is expected to stabilize at around 7 million units by 2050 and available farm power will then stabilize at around 4.5 kW/ha. The draft animal population will decrease drastically whereas power tillers, diesel engines and electric motors are expected to register significant increases during the period 2010 to 2050.
Policy
Business and enterprise friendly policies, laws, and regulations as well as physical and institutional infrastructures which encourage commercial activities and entrepreneurship in farming, input supply, and produce handling, processing and marketing as well as in manufacturing will be key factors to success of agricultural mechanization in the different states of India. For this:
- Reduce or eliminate all subsidies and invest in infrastructure, mainly, roads, electricity supply, irrigation systems and markets with storage and processing facilities in catchment areas.
- Reduce interest rates on loans and taxes for purchase of equipment and machinery for agricultural operations and food processing.
- Provide assured support prices for the farmers produce.
- Strengthen support services for research and development; testing and standards; as well as for human resources development in support of agricultural mechanization.
