While reducing hardship is undoubtedly one of the much-needed and desired benefits of farm mechanization, it is not the main goal of the practice. To increase the accuracy and efficiency of farm operations, save expenses, and boost production and profitability, it appears essential to employ machines. Machine use is also being boosted by the growing shortage of farm labor and the steadily rising wage rates in several states. The official estimate of farm mechanization in India is 47%, which is significantly less than the official estimates for China and Brazil of 60% and 75%, respectively.
In addition to the cost and availability of agricultural labor, a number of other factors influence farmers’ decisions to mechanize regular farm tasks. They include the farmer’s financial situation, crop rotation, water availability for irrigation, agro-ecological conditions, and, most significantly, the availability of loans and subsidies for buying or renting farm equipment. That explains why the amount of mechanization is essentially nonexistent in the Northeastern region but very high in places like Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, and several southern regions.
The preparation of seedbeds for commercial crops like cotton and sugarcane as well as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and millets is, in the opinion of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the most mechanized agricultural activity. In their situation, more than 70% of labor is typically mechanized. However, paddy transplanting is still done manually on about 80% of the field, while wheat sowing is automated to a degree of 65%. Although harvesting processes are mechanized to a similar extent, or roughly 65%, for both rice and wheat. Several pickings are required to harvest cotton, and most of the work is done manually.
However, it is also true that owning farm equipment has elevated farm households’ status in many agriculturally advanced regions. Due to this, farmers now own tractors and other equipment that is far larger and more powerful than what is necessary for their landholdings. This equates to needlessly investing vast quantities of borrowed money in agricultural machinery that is only used sometimes during the year.
Only 38,000 custom hiring centres and 17,700 or so banks for farm machinery have been established in the nation thus far. These are woefully insufficient. Additionally, it is essential to promote the development of compact, straightforward devices that may be produced by SMEs and used on small holdings. This would quicken the process of agricultural mechanisation in the country.