Prospects of mechanization in nursery development and management

Not AvailableThe productivity of farms depends greatly on the availability and judicious use of farm power by the farmers. Agricultural implements and machines enable the farmers to employ the power judiciously for production purposes. Agricultural machines increase productivity of land and labour by meeting timeliness of farm operations and increase work out-put per unit time. Besides its paramount contribution to the multiple cropping and diversification of agriculture, mechanization also enables efficient utilisation of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and irrigation water. Over the last few years, there has been considerable progress in agriculture mechanization. It is generally believed that the benefits of modern technology have been restricted to farmers with large land-holdings. Yet the fact remains that even small farmers are adopting and utilizing selected farm equipment for efficient farm management through custom hiring. Mechanical equipment for various farm operations like tillage, sowing, irrigation, plant protection and threshing etc. are generally being used by the farming community. The demand of important agricultural equipment like tractors, power tillers, combine harvesters, irrigation pump sets, diesel engines, has shown an increasing trend. According to the 17th Indian livestock census (2003), the population of 44 items of Agricultural Implements and Machinery during 1977 was 109.66 million (reference). This went up to 126.85 million in 1982 and further to 154.38 million in 1987 and then decreased to 141.93 million in 1992. Again during 1997, it increased to 180.57 million and further to 223.84 million during 2003. At present, Bihar has 111672 tractors, 4000 power tillers, 66128 mould bold ploughs, 50000 cultivators, 15000 seed drills, 290000 sprayers, and 300000 threshers. While recommended electricity consumption for farming purpose is 2 KW ha-1, but presently it Prospect of Farm Mechanization P.K. Sundaram, S.S. Singh, S.C. Sharma and A. Rahman Chapter 3.9 Contents • Introduction • Farm Power Availability • Energy Use • Scope and Prospect of Mechanization • Constraints and Suggestions in Mechanization Status of Agricultural Development in Eastern India Eds: B.P. Bhatt, A.K. Sikka, Joydeep Mukherjee, Adlul Islam, A. Dey © 2012.pp. 279-292 280 P.k. Sundaram, et al. is only 0.8 KW ha-1 in Bihar due to limited availability of electricity (http://bameti.org/ pdf/state_profile.pdf, accessed on 10.03.2012). Mechanization in West Bengal is mostly confined to the use of power tillers, small implements, plant protection equipment and power threshers. With the growing seasonal demand and high cost of labour, the need for mechanization is being increasingly felt. However, introduction and adoption of agricultural machinery in the recent past has mainly been confined to the northern States of India. However, with the increase in the irrigation facilities and modernisation of the cropping practices, the demand for agricultural machinery has shown an increasing trend in the southern and western parts of the country. Keeping in view the small land holding in the eastern states, individual ownership of farm equipment is not a feasible and viable proposition. Realizing this, the concept of “Farm Machinery Hub” is being promoted in many states. This enables small farmers to hire the equipment needed on rental basis.Not Availabl