Status of use of Modern Implements, Farm Machinery and Hand Tools in Indian agriculture

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1 Status of use of Modern Implements, Farm Machinery and Hand Tools in Indian agriculture Indranil Biswas and Bikramjit Sinha National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pusa Gate, KS Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 1112 Information source for rural people An authentic source of information regarding new tools and techniques can enhance the applicability of the modern tools in rural areas. In the light of the National Sample Survey Reports, we outlined the flow of information about the new technology. As per National Sample Survey Organization (Report No. 499(59/33/2), 59 th round 23) data, only 4% of farmer households are concerned about access to information on modern farming technologies. The most popular source of information was other progressive farmers with percentage of farmer households accessing information through this source being 16.7%, followed by input dealer (1.83%) and radio (1.74%). Percentage of farmer households accessing information through other progressive farmers was highest in Andhra Pradesh (34%), followed by Gujarat (3%) and West Bengal (25%). In the case of accessing information through input dealers it was higher in West Bengal (36%), Andhra Pradesh (3%) and Gujarat (24%). Radio was highest in Jammu & Kashmir (36%), followed by Kerala (31%) and Assam (29%). It is also indicated that the two most popular sources, namely other progressive farmers and input dealer were contacted by the farmer households mainly on need basis or seasonally. The overall picture of India regarding sources of information is represented in the following Fig Credit agency 1.49% Primary Cooperative Society 2.98% Others 1.4% Output byers/food processor 1.9% Para technician/ Private agency/ NGO.5% other progressive farmers 13.8% Any source 33.39% Input dealer 1.83% Television 7.69% Radio 1.74% Participation in training.74% Krishi Vigyan Kendra.58% Extension worker 4.71% farmers' study tour.17% Government demonstration 1.65% Village fair 1.65% Newspaper 5.79% Fig 6-5.1: Different sources of information about agricultural tools in percentage Source: NSSO report no. 499 (53/33/2) Electronic copy available at:

2 Finance for farmers According to the report from NABARD, GoI set a target of Rs. 1,75, crore for credit flow to agriculture for 26-7 against which disbursements by all agencies stood at Rs. 2,3,296 crore, exceeding the target by 16 per cent. Commercial banks, co-operative banks and Regional Rural Banks disbursed Rs. 1,4,382; 42,48 and 2,434 crore achieving 118, 14 and 136 per cent of their targets, respectively. During the same year, 83.5 lakh new farmers were brought under the institutional fold, 74.7 lakh fresh KCCs were issued, 631 agri-clinics financed, debt relief worth Rs. 4, and crore was provided to farmers in distress and in arrears, respectively. An amount of Rs crore was provided by banks to small/marginal farmers under one time settlement scheme. Banks also extended loans to the extent of Rs crore to 27,81 farmers, to redeem their past debts availed from informal sources. In some cases, subsidy is also available for the purchase of agricultural equipments. Agricultural equipments namely, tractors, power tillers, power threshers, sprinklers, drip irrigation, self propelled reapers, rotavators etc. are available on subsidy under Central Sector Plan Schemes. The subsidy is available to the 25% of the cost of equipment, subject to certain ceiling limits. Most recently, Government of India released a debt waiver scheme in 28 to the farmers for the welfare of poor farmers. This may be a short-term relief for the small and marginal farmers. But for the long-term gain we need to focus on capacity building of these farmers to sustain on adverse condition with more credit solution. Major farm machinery training and testing institutes in India The Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes (FMTTI) at Budni (M.P.), Hissar (Haryana), Garladinne (A.P.) and Bishwanath Chariali (Assam) established by the Government of India have been playing a vital role in promoting agricultural mechanization. The numbers of central farm machinery testing and training centre are less compared to the agricultural area of India. It is obvious that to enhance the facility there is a need to create more centers in India. To aware rural marginal farmers we need to decentralize the training and certification system. In fact, another gateway of job creation in rural India by imparting training to some nodal rural persons about standards and give them rights to certified the rural unorganizedly made small agri-machinery and tools on reasonable payment basis. In this way we may think of inclusion of large unorganized hand tool and agri-machinery industry into our organized system with proper safety measures and global acceptance. Electronic copy available at:

3 Usage of modern farm implements Number of plough owned/ 1 households nil Wooden plough Iron plough less than Land holding size in hectare &above Fig 6-5.2: Number of different kind of plough owner in rural India Source: NSSO Report No. 48, It is clear from the Fig that the tendency of utilization of wooden plough is higher than the iron plough. The other Fig clearly reveals that use of indigenous water lifting device is much more than the use of mechanized pumps except in case of the large farmers. Number of household users/ 1 households Pumps indigenous water lifting equipment 1 nil less than Landholding size in hectare Fig 6-5.3: Number of different kind of pump user in rural India Source: NSSO Report No. 48, &above The above figures show the pattern of the usage of modern farm implements in rural India. The pattern shows that farmers with larger land holdings are the ones who mainly use the improved farm implements.

4 Number of household users/ 1households Harrow Seed drills Sprayers Dusters Chaff cutter Power tiller tractor Harvester Thresher power run crane Type of agricultural implements Agricultural equipment based market basically for tractors in India is dominated by private players like Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and TAFE which constitutes for around 4% (out of which 75% is occupied by M&M) of the total market, Escorts and PTL together occupy 25%, while others hold 35% of total market share (Tractor manufactures association 24-5). These players not only do well in national market but also in international market. According to United Nation ESCAP report, the present requirement is about 2.75 million additional tractors. The average annual demand will be about 3.43 lakh tractors over the next 8 years. For intensive cropping, farm power availability needs to be increased from 1.35 kw/ha to 2 kw/ha by 21, mainly due to increased use of tractors and power tillers and by 21, the tractor population needs to be increased from 2.76 to 4.13 million tractors. Approximately annual use (in hours) of tractors is currently between 6-7 h/year. others crane sprinklers Fig 6-5.4: Users of mechanized agricultural implements in rural India Source: NSSO Report No. 48, &above less than.2 nil Export Import scenario The following graphs show the trend of export-import data for soil machinery, dairy and milking machines and for the tractors over last 12 years. It is based on the values (in 1$) of the particular item imported or exported as reported in FAOSTAT. These trends show the revenue generation through the export of agriculture machineries. Value in 1$ Year 1995 Year 1996 Year 1997 Year 1998 Import(in 1$) Export(in 1$) Year 1999 Year 2 Year 21 Year 22 Year 23 Year 24 Year 25 Fig 6-5.5: Import export value of soil machinery Source: Year 26

5 Status of Hand tools There are an estimated 25 small scale and tiny units in India, of which around 35 units are concentrated in Jalandhar and more than 1 in Ludhiana, besides 7 large units. The small-scale industry for 16 hand tools 14 employs an Import(in 1$) estimated Export(in 1$) workers. India's 1 share is more 8 than Rs billion in global hand tool market. Manufactured hand tools include hand tools like spades, shovels, mattocks, hand Fig 6-5.6: Import export value of dairy and milking machinery saws, files, Source: rasps, pliers, pipe cutters, spanners and wrenches, goldsmith tools, vices and clamps, anvils, tools for turning, milling, grinding, sharp edge tools, etc. Hand Tool industry is an energy intensive industry with high scope for improving energy efficiency and saving. Different state governments have several schemes for the industry related to agricultural implements and hand tools Year 1995 Year 1996 Year 1997 Year 1998 Value in 1$ Year 1999 Year 1995 Year 2 Year 1996 Year 21 Year 1997 Year 22 Year 1998 Year 23 Year 1999 Year 24 Year 2 Year 25 Year 26 Year 21 Year 22 Year 23 Year 24 Year 25 Year 26 Value in 1$ Import(in 1$) Export(in 1$) Fig 6-5.7: Import export value of Agricultural tractors (all values in USD) Source:

6 Key points to focus on Dissemination of knowledge of modern farm implements among rural farmers still depends mostly on progressive farmers. More intervention is needed by KVK and Government agricultural departments. Intervention micro credit system is one of the essential components for the small land holding farmers in rural India for using improved farm implements. There is a need to increase the number of public farm machinery training institutes for low paying farmers. We need more focus to do more R&D in sophisticated agri-machinery like milking machines, so that we can export more. Hand tool industry is still neglected in India. This industry is basically unorganized in nature. We must lay emphasis on the standardization, up-gradation and also on the marketing part of the small scale based hand tool industry. This article is a shorter version of the full article available at The whole executive summary of India Science & Technology 28 is freely downloadable from The complete India Science & Technology 28 report is available at