Farm mechanisation can help in dealing with some of the persistent challenges involved in agricultural operations, especially for the majority dependent on it for its livelihood. Increasing the level of farm mechanisation can greatly help the overall agricultural ecosystem by ensuring timely completion of farming activities, drudgery reduction, cost reduction and climate change risk mitigation. Moreover, it can help in making agriculture more sustainable and remunerative.
Farm implements related to high physical work-related activities like land preparation, harvesting have already found much traction among farmers. Also, new trends are emerging in the field of farm mechanisation which leverage the power of emerging technologies like AI. These technological advancements have the potential of bringing a new revolution in agriculture by greatly increasing efficiency and reducing human intervention. However, most of these technologies remain inaccessible to small farmers, who are the farming majority. Fragmented landholdings, unavailability of matching equipment, lack of sufficient capital and lack of required skills are some of the challenges being faced by small farmers.
Sustainable farm mechanization is an approach which reduces costs, lowers environmental impact, addressing labor shortages and increasing productivity for food security. A multi-pronged approach encompassing interventions related to field operations, institutions, training and capacity building, awareness generation, research and development is therefore essential. In this issue, we have tried to include varied initiatives and experiences pertaining to different aspects of farm mechanization.
Farm mechanization helps in reducing the production cost along with increasing the productivity.
It helps in livelihood enhancement of the population engaged in agriculture. Surender Prasad, a 52-year-old farmer from Umila village in Santkabir Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, with a single 35 horsepower tractor, cultivator and harrow, was able to improve his wheat grain yield by one ton per hectare. (Nima Chodon and Ajay K. Pundir, p.23)
Besides enhancing productivity, access to appropriate farm implements addresses the issue of labour shortage. For example, the Agriculture Implements Bank initiative shows how farm equipment could be made easily accessible while generating enough revenues and gainfully engaging youth in agriculture in rural areas. The availability of automated tools in this Tool Bank has given progressive farmers an opportunity to experiment with new techniques. This initiative has helped create youth employment, increase tractor owners’ income, and saved farmers significant time and money.(Suresh Margale, p.9)
Owing to high initial investment costs, farmers find it difficult to purchase large equipment, such as tractors, combined harvesters, and expensive seed drills. (Ashutosh Pal, p.32). Farmers with medium and large landholdings usually prefer buying such machinery, while small and marginal farmers prefer renting the same. Collective community-based institutions like FPOs and SHGs have the potential of providing strong collective platforms which can be leveraged for providing collective farm machinery to the farming community. This is already happening through various community based institutions. Many of the higher-cost modern machines— such as tractors, seed drills, and power reapers—are typically accessed by small farmers through Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) or by jointly purchasing them with farmer groups. For example, Mahashakthi Foundation promoted two community-managed Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs) in Bhuban and Kankadahad blocks in Odissa, providing farm machinery access to around 500 farmers (Ashutosh Pal, p.32)
The concept of Tool Banks are emerging to provide easy access to small and manually operated tools to farmers, thereby reducing their production costs. The availability of automated tools in Prabodhan Agriculture Implements Bank in Maharashtra, has given progressive farmers an opportunity to experiment with new techniques.(Suresh Margale, p.9). Similarly, the tool bank promoted by Mahashakti Foundation encouraged institutional ownership and
ensured equitable access to farm machinery for farmers in 60 villages. (Ashutosh Pal, p.32)
Developing suitable equipment for small and marginal farmers requires significant research and development efforts, while gaining a detailed understanding of the field requirements. Innovations from the ground are more sustainable and adaptable. The cassava-harvesting tool from Kerala is a striking example of how grassroots ingenuity can generate eco-friendly technologies that address both social and environmental challenges. Cassava, an important crop in Kerala, India, is traditionally harvested by hand, which is labour-intensive, physically demanding and ecologically unsustainable. Two farmer brothers developed a cassava-harvesting tool. By reducing drudgery, preventing soil erosion, and safeguarding farmers’ health, the tool represents a step toward more sustainable smallholder agriculture. Such efforts ensure that locally developed solutions not only improve livelihoods in their immediate context but also inspire adaptation and replication worldwide. Ongoing improvements illustrate the dynamic process of farmer-led innovation, where feedback from the field continually shapes the refinement of technology. Supported by the Prolinnova network, the innovation is now spreading across India and has attracted international attention. (TJ James, p.6)
Sustainable mechanization for smallholders is not merely about machines—it is about building local capacity, enterprise and trust. Along with the operational aspects, there is a dire need to conduct training on preventive maintenance of farm machinery. Most of the farm implements distributed to collective bodies get damaged due to lack of preventive maintenance. Training and capacity building of various stakeholders is of utmost importance in ensuring optimal utilisation of farm machinery. Established institutions can play a pivotal role in conducting large-scale training and capacity-building exercises. Innovation Guild’s ecosystem model shows that with the right partnerships, technology can truly take root in rural India. The Innovation Guild approach has successfully established a resilient, community-centric ecosystem that directly connects rural areas with tailored innovation. A network of more than 250 Village Level Entrepreneurs run sustainable businesses by ensuring regular repair and maintenance, operational support, and custom hiring services of machinery, accelerating the technology adoption while bringing employment to local youth (S.Sai Mohan et.al.,p.16)
Women are increasingly managing farm activities. This necessitates mechanization, by providing access and support to women in handling farm machines. An initiative in Bangladesh shows that when trained and supported, women could provide machinery and planting services to the community. Ms. Promila became a successful machinery solution provider (MSP) with hands-on training on rice transplanter operation, seedling raising, agricultural machinery operation maintenance and troubleshooting. She has inspired another 15 women in her community to offer farming and seed planting services.(Asmaul Husna and Nur-A-Mahajabin Khan, p.14).
Enhancing farm mechanization in India calls for support from the Government and various other institutions working towards farm development. While Government is reaching out with various schemes and training support, possibilities of public-private partnerships should also be explored for benefiting small and marginal farmers.
