what does mechanization mean in agriculture

Agricultural mechanization today has a very broad meaning. This broad meaning includes production, distribution and utilization of a variety of tools, machinery and equipment for the development of agricultural land, planting, harvesting and primary processing [ 3, 15, 19, 25 ].

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What are the objectives of agricultural mechanization?

Agricultural mechanization has been defined in a number of ways by different people. Perhaps the most appropriate definition is that it is the process of improving farm labour productivity through the use of agricultural machinery, implements and tools. Mechanization is a key input in any farming system. What is agricultural mechanization?

What are the disadvantages of agricultural mechanization?

 · Mechanised agriculture is the process of using agricultural machinery to mechanise the work of agriculture, greatly increasing farm worker productivity. In modern times, powered machinery has replaced many farm jobs formerly carried out by manual labour or by working animals such as oxen, horses and mules.

What affect did mechanization have on farming?

According to Dr. Bhattacharjee, “Mechanization of agriculture and farming process connotes application of machine power to work on land, usually performed by bullocks, horses and other draught animals or by human labour.”

What are the uses of agricultural machines?

The effect of agricultural mechanization can be described by the changes in farm population that began in the nineteenth century. With the advantages of improving, available, and inexpensive …

Whats the definition of mechanization in?

Mechanization is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery.

What is the best definition for mechanization?

The process of beginning to use machines, technology, and automation to do work is called mechanization.

What is the importance of agricultural mechanization?

Sustainable agricultural mechanization can also contribute significantly to the development of value chains and food systems as it has the potential to render postharvest, processing and marketing activities and functions more efficient, effective and environmentally friendly.

What are the benefits of mechanization?

Agricultural mechanization has also helped farms both small and large to earn more money on what they produce. First, time is saved by the mechanization process, which reduces the need to pay laborers over extended periods of time. Second, crop yields are higher, which results in more income.

What impact did mechanization have on farming agriculture?

For every 1 unit increase in the level of agricultural mechanization, the total agricultural output value, grain crop output value and cash crop output value increase by 1.813, 4.737 and 1.597 units, respectively.

What is mechanization technology?

mechanization, Use of machines, either wholly or in part, to replace human or animal labour. Unlike automation, which may not depend at all on a human operator, mechanization requires human participation to provide information or instruction.

What is an example of mechanization?

the act or process of introducing machines into an industry or other area of activity in order to replace human labor: Hay loaders are another example of the increasing mechanization of agriculture.

What are the advantages of machinery in agriculture?

It Reduces Fodder Area and Enlarges Food Area By utilizing mechanical power in agriculture leads to reduce animal power so that raring of animals is not required and utilization of fodder area can be used to grow crops for producing food for human consumption.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of mechanization in agriculture?

Mechanization has its advantages and disadvantages. Wikipedia continues: “Besides improving production efficiency, mechanization encourages large scale production and improves the quality of farm produce. On the other hand, it displaces unskilled farm labor, causes environmental pollution, deforestation and erosion.”

What is the meaning of “mechanization” in agriculture?

Bhattacharjee, “Mechanization of agriculture and farming process connotes application of machine power to work on land, usually performed by bullocks, horses and other draught animals or by human labour.”. According to Dr. C. B. Memoria, “It (mechanization) chiefly consists in either replacing, …

What is farm mechanization?

In G. D. Aggarwal’s words, “Farm mechanization is a term used in a very broad’ sense. It not only includes the use of machines, whether mobile or immobile, small or large, run by power and used for tillage operations, harvesting and thrashing but also includes power lifts for irrigation, trucks for haulage of farm produce, processing machines, dairy appliances for cream separating, butter making, oil pressing, cotton ginning, rice hulling, and even various electrical home appliances like radios, irons, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and hot plates.”

What are the arguments against mechanization?

Important arguments against mechanisation are: (1) Small Sized Farms: The existence of a large farm is an essential condition for mechanisation. For proper and best utilisation of agricultural machines, holdings will have to be large and should be (bund together and not scattered in tiny plots as is the case in India.

What is the use of machine energy?

The use of machine energy, therefore, leads to good agricultural production, to trade many crops or saleable animal products in short, to an exchange economy and a system of land utilization in which cultivator rests on a different and infinitely more complex basis than is found in the local self-sufficient economy.”.

Why is the cost of maintenance of draught animals the same?

In actual operation, costs amount to little when machines are idle, whereas the cost of maintenance of draught animals remains the same during both periods of working and idleness, because animals have to be fed whether they are doing work or not.

How to reduce unit costs?

It has been accepted by all that one of the methods of reducing unit costs is to enlarge the size c* the farms and go in for more intensive farming. It is found that the cost of production and the yields can be adjusted properly if mechanization is resorted to.

How does mechanization affect farming?

Mechanization increases the rapidity and speed of work with which farming operations can be performed. According to D. R. Bomford, “The ploughman with his three-horse am controlled three- horse; power, when given a medium-sized crawler tractor controlled between 20 to 30 horse power.

What was the first agricultural mechanization?

Agricultural mechanization started with the steam powered reapers and traction engine, then advanced with the invention of mobile hydraulics and electronic control systems that are used in modern machinery today.

How does technology affect farmers?

The literature on farmer’s innovations follows studies on technological change and diffusion of technologies in agriculture that explored the effect of relative prices as determinants of incentives to promote new technologies. For instance, in the 1970s, Binswanger (1974) showed that technology change responds to scarcity, bending research efforts toward scarce production factors signaled by prices. Agricultural mechanization arises as a response to limited agricultural labor and fertilizers, just as the green revolution package responds to rises in land prices. Distortions of all sorts affect the process of technological change. The growth of the farm inputs corporations, and the concentration in that industry distorts signals provided by the price mechanism. Farmers have few technical package choices.

What is the haat bazaar system?

Markets themselves need improving, and this can be done even at a basic level—well within living memory in the lower Himals of eastern Nepal is the initiative of one person who started the weekly “ haat bazaar ” system, such an important economic and social institution nowadays, where goods are sold or bartered.

What are the phases of agriculture?

Agriculture can be described as having three eras. The first is best characterized as the blood, sweat, and tears era , when famine and fatigue were common and inadequate food supplies occurred frequently. Agriculture’s second developmental stage, the mechanical era, began with invention of labor-saving machines. The effect of agricultural mechanization can be described by the changes in farm population that began in the nineteenth century. With the advantages of improving, available, and inexpensive machines, farming became more efficient and the need for labor was reduced. The chemical era of agriculture boosted production and costs again. The era really began when nitrogen fertilizer, a result of the Haber-Bosch process, became readily available and enabled realization of the genetic potential of the newly available hybrid corn. When nitrogen fertilizer was combined with hybrid corn varieties, first experimented with by Henry A. Wallace in 1913, yields went up rapidly. The agricultural revolution of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s transformed the practice of agriculture, reduced the number of people on farms, and significantly increased the productivity of those who remained. Developed country agriculture is now in the era of extensive and intensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and is moving rapidly toward the next era of agriculture—the era of biotechnology—but weed management is still a major concern in all of agriculture. Weed science cannot claim the historical lineage of entomology or plant pathology, as weeds have not been studied as long.

What are the challenges of autonomous vehicles?

There are, however, several challenges facing the use of autonomous vehicles. Safety is the largest challenge as present systems cannot compare with human operators in their perception and understanding of the environment around the vehicle. As an autonomous vehicle cannot match the perception of a human operator, the machinery manufacturer and the agricultural producer would face a large amount of liability for any failures in the vehicle. For these reasons, operators will be used in agricultural vehicles until the perception systems improve, except in situations such as removal of land mines, which pose a danger to the operator.

Can autonomous vehicles match human operators?

As an autonomous vehicle cannot match the perception of a human operator, the machinery manufacturer and the agricultural producer would face a large amount of liability for any failures in the vehicle.

What does mechanization mean in farming?

By increasing harvest outputs, mechanization means that famers can move on from subsistence farming to market-oriented farming. By easing and reducing the hard labour involved with farming, mechanization can also ensure higher outputs regardless of the age, gender or physical well-being of the farmer.

What is agricultural mechanization?

This broad meaning includes production, distribution and utilization of a variety of tools, machinery and equipment for the development of agricultural land, planting, harvesting and primary processing [3, 15, 19, 25].

What is automation process?

Automation involves the entire process, including bringing material to and from the mechanized equipment. Mechanization is normally defined as the replacement of a human task with a machine. Automatic transplanters are an example of mechanization. But, true automation encompasses more than mechanization.

What are the levels of mechanization?

Mechanization in any area is characterized into 3 levels, viz low, fair and high.

What is the process of mechanization in agriculture?

According to Dr. Bhattacharjee, “ Mechanization of agriculture and farming process connotes application of machine power to work on land, usually performed by bullocks, horses and other draught animals or by human labour.”. ADVERTISEMENTS: It is partial when only a part of the farm work is done by machine.

What is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery?

Mechanization is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery. Machines, in fact, are interposed between the power and the work, for the purpose of adapting the one to the other. In some fields, mechanization includes the use of hand tools.

What will agriculture become in the future?

In the future, agricultural machines will become data-rich sensing and monitoring systems. In the future, mechanization will also have to contribute to better management of inputs, which will be critical to increasing TFP in global production systems that vary widely among crop types and regional economic status.

How does mechanization affect agriculture?

Mechanization is a crucial input for agricultural crop production and one that historically has been neglected in the context of developing countries. Factors that reduce the availability of farm power compromise the ability to cultivate sufficient land and have long been recognized as a source of poverty, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing the power supply to agriculture means that more tasks can be completed at the right time and greater areas can be farmed to produce greater quantities of crops while conserving natural resources. Applying new technologies that are environmentally friendly enables farmers to produce crops more efficiently by using less power.

How does agricultural mechanization contribute to the development of value chains and food systems?

Sustainable agricultural mechanization can also contribute significantly to the development of value chains and food systems as it has the potential to render postharvest, processing and marketing activities and functions more efficient, effective and environmentally friendly.

Why is mechanization important in farming?

This move happens for the most part because of the requirement for more land and funding to be related with farmers so as to receive the full advantages of technology. This in turn has two benefits:

How does mechanization affect agriculture?

Mechanization also results in better usage of agriculture land for the substitution of fuel tractor for animal power means diminished interest. The utilization of machine power in this manner prompts great agricultural production, to exchange numerous crops or sale able animal to put it plainly, to a trade economy and an arrangement of land use in which cultivator lays on an alternate and endlessly more complex premise than it is found in the nearby independent economy.

How does mechanization help farmers?

With the mechanization in place income from farm can be multiplied and it helps in improving the farmer’s economic condition. It represents the unmatched ascent of national income and with it the way of living life, it assembles urban communities, It raises business and other social organizations; it transforms free economic agglomerates into social economies to intently weave by a thousand lines of association.

What are the improvements in India?

The improvements come in the area of irrigation, land reclamation and the prevention of soil erosion. In recent days irrigation of crops can be achieved in scientific approach dependence on monsoon in India.

What animals are used in mechanization?

Adopting new mechanization and farming process implies including of machine power to work on farm, usually these works are performed by bullocks, horses and other drought animals as well as human labor.

Why do people migrate from rural to urban cities?

In Modern Scenario, people are equipped with good qualifications and tend to migrate from rural to urban cities in search of job, which in turn leads to labor shortage. Usage of agriculture machines like inter cultivator, power tiller etc. can reduce the dependency on labor and improve the quality of life of the farmers.

When animals and humans are completely replaced by machines that leads to complete mechanization?

When animals and human are completely replaced by machines that leads to complete mechanization. In broad sense mechanization of agriculture has two types, mobile mechanization and stationary mechanization. The previous attempts to replace animal power on which agriculture has been based for hundreds of years; while the last goes for decreasing …

What is farm mechanization?

Farm mechanization refers to the development and use of machines that can take the place of human and animal power in agricultural processes. The mechanization of agriculture that took place during the 20th century led to major changes in how farmers plant, irrigate and harvest crops. Combines, tractors, harvesters and other machinery have enabled …

How do combine tractors help farmers?

Combines, tractors, harvesters and other machinery have enabled farmers to increase their production while relying less upon an extended labor force. Large air-conditioned combines and tractors can work vast areas of farmland in a much shorter period of time than an unaided crew of farm workers.

How does mechanization affect agriculture?

Mechanization provides opportunities for intensifying production in a sustainable manner, value addition and food systems development, and improved local economies and livelihoods. It also plays a key role in enabling the growth of commercial agrifood systems and improving the efficiency of post-harvest handling, processing and marketing operations. It can have a major influence on the availability and accessibility of more nutritious food, contributing to increased household food security. The application of farm power to appropriate tools, implements and machines – “farm mechanization” – is an essential agricultural input in sub-Saharan Africa with the potential to transform the lives and economies of millions of rural families. ISSN 1020-4555

Why is agriculture mechanized?

Moreover agricultural mechanization in its broadest sense can contribute significantly to the development of food systems, as it has the potential to render post-harvest, processing and marketing activities and functions more efficient, effective and environmentally friendly. FAO (2014b) summarizes the main reasons for changing the power source for crop production from muscles (human or animal) to tractors: i. Potential to expand the area under cultivation. ii. Ability to perform operations at the right time to maximize production potential. iii. Multifunctionality – tractors can be used, not only for crop production, but also for transportation, stationary power applications and infrastructure improvement (drainage and irrigation canals and road works). iv. Compensation for seasonal labour shortages (or, indeed, release of labour for more productive work. v. Reduction of the drudgery associated with the use of human muscle power for tasks, such as hand hoeing for primary tillage – especially important in tropical areas where high temperatures and humidity (sometimes associated with inadequate nutrition) make manual work extremely arduous. In spite of these perceived benefits and the fact that animals had been largely replaced by tractors in both the United States and Western Europe by the 1950s, arguments were still put forward urging caution in the developing world (as highlighted by FAO, 2008). The main preoccupation was the effect of mechanization on rural employment opportunities. At the time, it was not understood that mechanization affected mainly on-farm family employment, not hired labour. Mechanization, in fact, enables farm family members not only to increase farm productivity via production intensification and/or expansion, but also to seek off-farm employment opportunities as a result of the increased time made available to look for and be engaged in such employment. Moreover, it was not appreciated that mechanization applied only to specific farm production tasks (in particular land preparation), and consequently had little effect on hired labour unemployment as previously presumed. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI, 2016a) enriches the debate on the social factors associated with mechanization by pointing out that in the past, forced mechanization was associated with the displacement of tenant farmers and rural labour. However, in Africa, mechanization is more likely to increase labour demand when it enables more land to be cultivated (and when it is profitably applied along the value chain). IFPRI points out that mechanization is just one component in the agricultural intensification process; mechanization should not actually initiate intensification where it is not already driven by population pressure and

Why are smallholder farmers so poor?

Smallholders are often isolated by distance and poor infrastructure (especially feeder roads). There is limited access to sources of financial credit due to the: • lack of availability of financial products specifically focused on farm equipment investment ; • misconception of many financial institutions regarding the need for targeted financial products for investment in equipment ; • basic nature of agricultural production – i.e. a high-risk business; • reluctance of commercial financial institutions (mainly banks) to extend credit to poor farmers with little collateral; and • The lack of financial products to serve the purposes of small-scale farm mechanization. Experience from other parts of the world shows that extending credit products to farmers to invest in agricultural machinery not only allows them

Is agricultural machinery imported?

Tractors and agricultural machinery can be either imported or locally made, with potential associated problems in both cases. Locally produced machinery is usually low in quality and high in price. This is due to the underdeveloped nature of the machinery manufacturing industry, which in turn is largely the result of poor demand. Moreover, supply chains providing support to owners of tractors and agricultural machinery with spare parts, advice and other services (especially clean fuel) are often underdeveloped and do not easily reach remote rural areas ( FAO, 2009d). Analysis of the limited adoption of mechanization and of the relationships between the different determinants clearly indicates that SSA conditions have led to the creation of a restrictive environment, which has held back the development of mechanization (Figure 3).