Krishi jagran agriculture world june 2015

TRADITIONAL PRACTICES

OF MEGHALAYA TO

FACE CLIMATE CHANGE

TRADITIONAL PRACTICES

OF MEGHALAYA TO

FACE CLIMATE CHANGE

FARM MECHANIZATION IN INDIA:

CHANGING SCENARIO

AND THE WAY FORWARD

AGRI-MECHANIZATION

AND THE LAW OF

INHERITANCE

FARM MECHANIZATION IN INDIA:

CHANGING SCENARIO

AND THE WAY FORWARD

Echoing Sustainable Environment and Agriculture

www.krishijagran.com

AGRI-MECHANIZATION

AND THE LAW OF

INHERITANCE

AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURE Volume I Issue 6 June-2015 `70 | | |

W RLDW RLD

TRACTORS

FARM MECHANIZATION beyond TRACTORS

FARM MECHANIZATION

AGRICULTURE WORLD

Editorial

Me c h a n i za o n i s t h e m e a s u re o f h u m a n

development and that is one of the major

disnguishing characteriscs that idenfy humans

as dierent from animals. Manual labour up to a

certain extend is noble and necessary but beyond that it is

dehumanizing and destroying the humanness replacing it by

animality. Agriculture is one such occupaon; hence a culvator

mostly prefers to work as a watchman or a helper in a wayside

eang place rather than soil his hands with mud and dirt of the

eld. There are many sociocultural reasons also why a man prefers any other job to work in

agriculture or animal husbandry. Mechanizaon gives a certain amount of dignity to the

man working in agriculture besides beer income.

Everyone is talking about mechanizaon as an imminent and necessary factor in

Indian agriculture which is dominated by marginal and small farmer who make up 85 per

cent of the landholders. The main reason for such fragmentaon is the The Law of

Inheritance. Further many of the land holdings are sll fragmented into small pieces of

land scaered over a panchayat or a block. They are not conguous. Secondly small and

marginal farmers have no means to purchase and maintain even the smallest equipment as

they are culvang under loss. Dr. Chandy in his arcle Agrimechanizaon and the Law of

Inheritance highlighted the need for a policy change, namely, abrogaon of The Law of

Inheritance by passing an act in the parliament like the acts of Central Land Reform of

1972 abolishing Landlordism and the Act Abolion of Bonded Labour in 1976. The law of

inheritance as prevalent in our country is a big hurdle for smooth mechanizaon of Indian

agriculture.

Another area where mechanizaon is of paramount importance is the area of food

processing. The interview Dr. K. Alagusundaram Deputy Director General of Agriculture

Engineering Division is highly informave. He provides leadership and coordinates a net

work of six Research Instutes, six All India Coordinated Research Projects and two

Network projects. Every year a large quanty of food items produced in our country get

spoiled due to lack of storage and processing. It is esmated that India incurs a loss of 2000

billion rupees worth due to spoilage in vegetables and fruits alone. In this context

mechanizaon in food processing is an area which needs great revoluonary changes to be

brought in as quickly as possible.

No doubt compared to what it was at the me of independence in India farm

mechanizaon, especially tractorizaon has gone a long way. Tractorizaon was the rst

generaon mechanizaon of agriculture. But it serves only as a mobile power; other

machines have to be aached to the tractor depending on the types of operaons to be

done, for the tractor to become fully operaonal. A second generaon mechanizaon

would be the use of machines for performing various operaons in dierent crops. Dr.

Kanchan Kumar Singh in his arcle on Farm Mechanizaon in India: Changing Scenario and

the Way Forward highlights the areas where the change is required in farm mechanizaon

in India.

The interview with Mr. Basant Kumar, who is AGM and Product Head of Honda Siel

Power Products Ltd, shows how a company can develop farmer oriented and soil specic

machines and promote them among farmers. As a leading company in the power products

HSPP is an example for others. We need more such companies.

Man's struggle to mechanize his works has been there from me immemorial; we

nd that there are creave people among the ordinary village folks who will come out with

some small innovaons or other. Chander Mohan in his arcle on Innovaons in Farm

Mechanizaon enumerates a number of such farmer level innovaons which help the

farmers to perform beer in their own struggle for survival and development.

For a naon, mechanizaon in agriculture is a necessity to generate enough surplus to

feed the people and to generate enough raw material for various industries. Various studies

have shown that about 1520 % increase in producvity or reducon in cost of culvaon

can be achieved through mechanizaon of agriculture. U. R. Badegaonkar, P. C. Bargale and

et al in their arcle on Entrepreneurship Development and Business Opportunies

Through Agricultural Engineering Technologies discusses agricultural engineering based

technologies developed by CIAE, Bhopal one of the leading Research and Development

organizaon in our country.

To many in India mechanizaon of agriculture means tractorizaon. Prof. Surendra

Singh is aempng to eradicate such a myth from the mind of people through his arcle on

Farm Mechanizaon beyond Tractors. Gone are the days when a farmers walking behind

thin emaciated bullocks to seed his crops and to transport his harvest. In the author's own

words 'appropriate and selecve mechanizaon of producon agriculture, postharvest

management and value addion using a proper blend of convenonal and renewable

energy sources facilitates in enhancing producvity is necessary. This arcle is very

informave and supported with relevant data in the form of tables and graphs.

M C Dominic

EditorinChief

[email protected]

AGRICULTURE WORLD

Year Rs. US$

1 700 100

2 1300 200

3 1800 300

SUBSCRIPTION

Printed and Published by : M.C. Dominic

Agriculture World, 60/9, 3rd Floor, Yusuf Sarai Market

Near Green Park Metro Station, New Delhi110016

Tel: 01126511845, 26517923, Mob: 9313301029, 9654193353

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Web: www.krishijagran.com, www.kjcommoditynews.com

Printed at : New Pushpak Press Pvt. Ltd. 203, 204 DSIDC Complex

Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi 110020

IN THIS ISSUE

Editor M.C. Dominic

Director Shiny Emanuel

M.G. Vasan

Sr. ExecutiveEditor Dr. K.T. Chandy

R.K. Teotia

Chander Mohan

Executive Editor G.S. Saini

Head Editorial Sanjay Kumar

Associate Editor Kumud Shukla

Neha Sachdeva

Senior Correspondent Ruby Jain

Correspondent Aniket Sinha

Kanika Chauhan

Imarn Khan

Admin Head Chetram

HeadMarketing P.S. Saini

DGMMarketing Farha Khan

Sr. ManagerMarketing K.J. Saranya

Hrituparna Banerjee

ManagerMarketing Sara Khan

Asst. ManagerMarketing Sarita Singh

Jyoti Sharma

Megha Sharma

Sr. ExecutiveMarketing Afsana Malik

Sujata Gautam

Chunki Bhutia

Poonam Bishwakarma

HeadCirculation Nishant Kr. Taak

Sr. ExecutiveCirculation Chander Dev Bhatt

Rahul Singh

Abdus Samad

Sukumar Dalai

Aruna Jana

Head PrePress Dharmendra Kumar

Designing Yogesh Kumar

Accounts Preetha M. Nair

K.B. Indira

Office Assistant Devendra Singh

Prem Kumar

Ranjan

D.D. NAIR

VP International Business (Russia & CIS Countries)

6 MikluhoMaklaya STR, Moscow, Russia 117198

Mob: +7903729 98 30, Off.: +7499501 99 10

Email: [email protected]

M. Mezhukanal

Middle East

E16F33, Hamriyah Free Zone, Sharjha, UAE

Ph.: +971502870465, Email: [email protected]

AgriMechanizaon and the Law of Inheritance.............................4

, Dr. K. Alagusundaram..............................................10 INTERVIEW

Farm Mechanizaon in India

Changing Scenario and The Way Forward ...................................13

Customer Response and Banking Soluons..................................16

INTERVIEW, Mr. Basant Kumar ....................................................18

Innovaons Those Changed The Farm Mechanizaon..................21

Tradional Pracces of Meghalaya to Face Climate Change.........24

Entrepreneurship Development and Business Opportunies

Through Agricultural Engineering Technologies............................28

KAMCO Best Friend of Farmers...................................................34

Farm Mechanizaon beyond Tractors...........................................36

In every sphere of human life

manual labour is being replaced by

machines and machines are

automated by computerizaon

and digizaon. That is the type of

performance quoent being introdu

ced into almost all the secondary and

terary occupaons. Whereas the

primary occupaons like agriculture,

shing, forestry and animal husbandry

are far behind in mechanizaon and

computerizaon compared to what

they should have been. These are the

occupaons where hard human labour

is being applied in its raw and crude

form under the unbearable economic

and social condions of inequalies and

injusces. In fact mechanizaon and

computerizaon should have been

introduced in these sectors long ago.

Can a human being ever develop

himself if he has to work like a bullock in

the eld, illiterate and ignorant as ever?

Though India has gone a long way in

fa r m m e c h a n i za o n i t re m a i n s

restricted only to big and medium

farms. As per 200203 data the small

and marginal farmers who form 81% of

the culvators operang on 43.5% of

cropped area are totally excluded from

farm mechanizaon. Even the medium

and semimedium farmers who make

up about 18 % of farmers operang on

another 44.7% of the culvated area are

also unable to go for mechanizaon

beyond the use of tractor for ploughing

and harrowing. Finally it is the big farms

of 1.4% operang on 12% of the

culvated area are only able to go for

f u l l e d g e d m e c h a n i z a o n .

Observaon from the previous several

decades data conrm that there is a

steady increase in the number of small

and marginal farmers while the number

and area operated by the medium and

b ig farmers in our country are

decreasing posing a big queson mark

on the farm mechanizaon in India.

Further it can be seen that farm

mechanizaon is concentrated mostly

in wheat and paddy growing areas

Punjab, Haryana and Western Uar

Pradesh and that too in areas where

land reforms were implemented along

with consolidaon of land. More than

50% of the culvated area is under

cereals and millets. Most of the small

and marginal farmers culvate their

land with the support of their family

members and local labour working day

and night. Child labour is maximum

used in agriculture, animal husbandry

and shing. All these factors pose a

serious queson on farm mechaniz

a o n . T h e p u r p o s e o f a n y

mechanizaon is primarily to save

human energy for the development of

mind and mental acvies which are

characteriscs of human nature. Such

mechanizaonal changes in agriculture

04 ISSUE-6 JUNE 2015AGRICULTURE WORLD www.krishijagran.com

Agri-Mechanization

and the Law of Inheritance

FMBT Agri-Mechanization and the Law of Inheritance

052015 JUNE ISSUE-6 AGRICULTURE WORLD

have not taken place enough in India

due to a number of reasons of which

some are as follows.

1. Illiteracy or very low literacy among

the farmers,

2. Farmers are too tradional and are

resistant to changes,

3. Lack of capital availability and low

capital generaon capacity,

4. Insucient R&D in agriculture

mechanizaon,

5. Landholdings are too small for

mechanizaon,

6. Farm lands are not structured

e n o u g h fo r o p e ra n g a g r i

machineries,

7. Poor roads and infrastructural

facilies in the rural agricultural

areas,

8. Shortage of power/energy in the

agriculture sector.

9. Too many people are in the

agriculture sector

Some more reasons can be added

to this list.

These are some of the oen

menoned reasons for insucient

mechanizaon in agriculture sector in

India. But the law of inheritance will

seldom gure in the list of reasons.

Hence this arcle is an aempt to

highlight the short and long term

impact of the law of inheritance on

mechanizaon of agriculture in India.

Though there are many socio

cultural variaons in the applicaon of

the laws of inheritance of landed

properes among the people in various

parts of India, they all boil down to

equal inheritance of land assets to the

designated inheritors, including the

women. For example a 12 hectare

large farm land is inherited by two

children and the parents resulng in

three equal divisions of 4.00 hectare

each which come under the medium

s ize land hold ings . In the next

generaon depending on the number

of inheritors in each family, let us say

minimum of two children plus parents

the four hectare plots will be divided

into three plots of 1.33 hectares each

which will come under the category of

small farms and in the next generaon

all the inherited land porons will be

under the marginal land holding

categories. What will happen in the next

generaon is le to everyone's

imaginaon. In four generaons the

members of the landlord family become

submarginal land holders unable to

generate a single meal a day for a family.

The law of inheritance is suicidal in

nature and adhering to it millions have

wasted their lives unnoced. This cut

throatsuicidalnature of the Law of

Inheritance have been operang for

centuries in India. And yet no one seems

to dare to queson or aempt to

change them.

THE CUT-THROAT-SUICIDAL-NATURE OF THE

LAW OF INHERITANCE OF LAND ASSETS IS

NEVER HIGH-LIGHTED ENOUGH WHEN WE

THINK OF MECHANIZATION AND

IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA.

W h a t h a p p e n s to t h e fa r m

holdings? They will become too small to

culvate and to make a living on them

for any family. So as the generaons go

by, the large farms will become

medium, medium will become semi

medium and semimedium will become

small farms and small farms will

become marginal farms marginal farms

will become house plots which will

come out of the domain of agriculture.

www.krishijagran.com

FMBTAgri-Mechanization and the Law of Inheritance

Further fragmentaon can take place if

the original 12 hectare farm was in two

pieces in dierent locaons or if there

are more inheritors. At the rst division

of inheritance itself each piece

inherited will come into the category of

marginal farms and further they will

become house plots. However it should

be admied that in the process of

fragmentaon someone in the line of

inheritors will buy up land from other

inheritors, as they are not able to ulize

their land, and become again a land

lord. Thus along with the process of

fragmentaon of land under the law of

inheritance there will take place a

process of consolidaon by a very few

who are smart enough to be land lords

while many others will become landless

illiterate agriculture labourers whose

life may be a lile beer than the

animals in their landlord's house.

Illiteracy in their life will be like adding

oil to re. Landlords would not like to go

for mechanizaon in farming because

they have plenty of cheap labour at

their beck and call. Mechanizaon will

require investment of huge capital on

their side along with maintenance cost.

Invariably the landlords will become

money lenders also and the village

agricultural life becomes more complex

though stac.

DEVELOPMENT OF LANDLORDISM ALONG

WITH LANDLESS AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS

WILL BE A NATURAL PHENOMENON WHEN

FRAGMENTATION OF LAND TAKES PLACE

GENERATION AFTER GENERATION UNDER THE

LAW OF INHERITANCE IN WHICH ILLITERACY

WILL BE LIKE ADDING OIL INTO THE FIRE.

U n d e r s u c h s i t u a o n o f

g e n e ra o n a l f ra g m e n t a o n o f

agricultural land mechanizaon of

agriculture and allied occupaons will

become very slow. None of small or

marginal farms will be able to purchase

and maintain even some of the basic

machineries as they are capital

intensive. To operate farm machineries

and to maintain them the land holdings

should have a minimum size.

The landlords do not want mechanization

and the small and marginal farmers are

unable to go for any mechanization.

The land ownership and holding

paern has reached to such an extent

Except in Punjab, Haryana, West

Bengal and Kerala implementaon land

reform was carried out in a lackadaisical

way in all other states giving rise to

absentee landlordism along with

connuaon of bonded labouredness.

In 1976 an act was passed abolishing

the bonded labour and thousands and

lakhs of bonded labourers were

released: most of them for name sake.

Like absentee landlordism absentee

bonded labour connued in many parts

of the country especially in Bihar, Uar

Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh etc.

FRAGMENTATION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND

WAS ALL THE MORE ACCELERATED UNDER THE

IMPLEMENTATION OF LAND REFORM ACTS

ENFORCED IN VARIOUS STATES. LIKE

ABSENTEE LANDLORDISM ABSENTEE BONDED

LABOUR ALSO CONTINUED IN MANY PARTS

OF THE COUNTRY.

It would have been an excellent

opportunity to abolish the law of

inheritance and to freeze the size of the

farm holdings under each state as per

recommendaons given in Table 1.

Mechanizaon could have been

adopted in each state according to the

agroclimac regions. In state like

Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Goa and

other parts of India where abundance

of monsoon or irrigaon water is

available the machines could have been

developed for wet area culvaon. The

machineries developed will be in un

irrigated will be dierent from those

used for areas with assured water

supply. But in areas where two crops are

taken, (one irrigated and the other un

irrigated) both the types of farm

machineries would be used with

necessary modicaons.

Further locaon specic and crop

s p e c i c m a c h i n e r i e s c o u l d b e

developed in all the states in India. Thus

we should have machineries for clay

soil, alluvial soils, sandy soils, stony and

rocky areas, for undulated areas, for

hilly areas, for uneven areas, for water

logged areas etc. Further specic

machineries for crops like sugarcane,

wheat, paddy, maize, jowar, coon, tea,

for its populaon from less and less land

area.

Concluding remarks

We are number one in the total

producon of milk, cereals, oil seeds

etc. but the per head availability of

these products is far below the per head

requirement. Even in the case of

mechanizaon of agriculture India has

achieved some remarkable achieve

ments but that too is concentrated only

in certain areas and far below the

required and opmum level. All the

crops in the world can be grown in India

and yet the people are ever in want and

poverty. In the face of ever growing

populaon everything produced in any

amount of quanty seem to vaporize

into thin air.

To strike a balance between

ecological and economic imperaves in

agricultural mechanizaon and to

boost the producon and producvity

crops in India the following are

suggested.

1. Put in place a naonal plan for

curbing the populaon growth in India.

Following the principle of carrying

capacity of culvable land area we can

esmate the opmum populaon India

can have. Planners and policy makers

will have to plan for a long term

populaon policy. Even if the resources

are in huge amount, the burgeoning

populaon bursng at seams reduce

the per capita availability to the

abysmally low availability level.

ALL THE CROPS IN THE WORLD CAN BE

GROWN IN INDIA AND YET THE PEOPLE ARE

EVER IN WANT AND POVERTY. IN THE FACE OF

072015 JUNE ISSUE-6 AGRICULTURE WORLDwww.krishijagran.com


that a vast majority of the people in the

rural areas became landless agricultural

labourers to be exploited economically

and ostracized socially. Further they

became bonded labourers of the same

landlords from whom they borrowed

money periodically for meeng various

needs in their life. Land in India has

always been a status symbol those who

did not have any land had no social

status.

ALONG WITH LANDLORDISM GREW THE

CLASS OF BONDED LABOURERS MAKING

MECHANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE ALL THE

MORE DIFFICULT.

In order to curb the growing

landlordism as well as to improve the

socioeconomic situaon of the vast

majority of the rural people in India the

government of India implemented the

Land Reform which was enacted in 1972

at the Centre and State government

level.

ENDLESS FRAGMENTATION OF LAND

HOLDINGS GOES DIAMETRICALLY AGAINST

MECHANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE.

T h e C e n t r a l L a n d R e f o r m

Commiee 1972 suggested the division

of the land in the following sizes as

viable family holdings.

1. 10 to 15 acres for irrigated land

with two assured crops,

2. 27 acres for parally irrigated land

with one assured crop and

3. 54 acres for unirrigated or rain fed

land.

The raonale behind this division is

that from the income of the land

holding the operang family should be

able to meet all the basic requirements

for its existence and development.

Requirements for human existence are

food, fuel, clothes, housing, medicine,

rest, etc. while the things required for

personal and human development are

educaon, recreaonal and reading

facilies, infrastructural facilies,

i n s t u o n a l s u p p o r t , d e c e nt l y

furnished housing etc.

But at the chief ministers' meeng

in 1972 on land reform this proposal

was modied under the suggested

guide lines of ceiling level in hectares:

5.057.28 hectares for two cropped

areas with assured irrigaon, 10.93 ha

where one irrigated and another un

irrigated crop are taken, and 21.85 ha in

areas where unirrigated crops are

taken as the ceiling limits. Ceiling levels

were xed by each state, for various

types of condions as shown in Table 1.

Obviously there is a lot of variaon in

the ceiling level xed by dierent states.

Sll we can accept this as the ceiling

level for the agricultural lands in each

state.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Stascs at a Glance (1990), p.104.

Table 1: Ceiling limits on land holdings (in hectares)

Sl.No States Irrigated two crops Irrigated one crop Dry land

A Suggested guide lines of 1972 5.057.28 10.93 21.85

B Actual ceiling

1 A.P. 4.057.28 6.0710.93 14.1621.85

2 Assam 6.74 6.74 6.74

3 Bihar 6.077.28 10.12 12.1418.21

4 Gujarat 4.057.28 6.0710.93 8.0921.85

5 Haryana 7.25 10.9 21.8

6 H.P. 4.05 6.07 12.14 28.33

7 Jammu & Kashmir 3.605.06 5.95 9.20

8 Karnataka 4.058.10 10.1212.14 21.85

9 Kerala 4.866.07 4.866.07 4.866.07

10 M.P. 7.28 10.93 21.85

11 Maharashtra 7.28 10.9314.57 21.85

12 Manipur 5.00 5.00 6.00

13 Orissa 4.05 6.07 12.1418.21

14 Punjab 7.00 11.0 20.50

15 Rajasthan 7.28 10.93 21.8570.82

16 Tamil Nadu 4.86 12.14 24.28

17 Sikkim 5.06 20.23

18 Tripura 4.00 4.00 12.00

19 U.P. 7.30 10.95 18.25

20 West Bengal 5.00 7.00





Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Stascs at a Glance (1990), p.104.

Table 1: Ceiling limits on land holdings (in hectares)

Sl.No States Irrigated two crops Irrigated one crop Dry land

A Suggested guide lines of 1972 5.057.28 10.93 21.85

B Actual ceiling

1 A.P. 4.057.28 6.0710.93 14.1621.85

2 Assam 6.74 6.74 6.74

3 Bihar 6.077.28 10.12 12.1418.21

4 Gujarat 4.057.28 6.0710.93 8.0921.85

5 Haryana 7.25 10.9 21.8

6 H.P. 4.05 6.07 12.14 28.33

7 Jammu & Kashmir 3.605.06 5.95 9.20

8 Karnataka 4.058.10 10.1212.14 21.85

9 Kerala 4.866.07 4.866.07 4.866.07

10 M.P. 7.28 10.93 21.85

11 Maharashtra 7.28 10.9314.57 21.85

12 Manipur 5.00 5.00 6.00

13 Orissa 4.05 6.07 12.1418.21

14 Punjab 7.00 11.0 20.50

15 Rajasthan 7.28 10.93 21.8570.82

16 Tamil Nadu 4.86 12.14 24.28

17 Sikkim 5.06 20.23

18 Tripura 4.00 4.00 12.00

19 U.P. 7.30 10.95 18.25

20 West Bengal 5.00 7.00



EVER GROWING POPULATION EVERYTHING

PRODUCED IN ANY AMOUNT SEEM TO

VAPORIZE INTO THIN AIR.

2. As we have abolished the

landlordism and bonded labour system

we also need to abolish the law of

inheritance which automacally

fragments the land assets endlessly

making agriculture nonviable. All land

should be naonalized and people

should have only the user's right and

not the absolute ownership right. We

need to learn from the experience of

China and other countries which makes

remarkable strides in land use paern

and agriculture revoluon. China

naonalized long ago all the land and

also systemacally migrang rural

farming people into urban areas freeing

t h e i r f r a g m e n t e d l a n d s i n t o

consolidated viable farm holdings with

adequate mechanizaon and beer

remunerated employment. Within

short span of me the urban populaon

in china has grown to 52 per cent. India

needs to plan for consolidaon of small,

marginal and semimedium farms into

viable landholdings so that eecve

and ecient mechanizaon can be

done.

3. Depending on the agroclimac

condions and the cropping paerns

prevail ing in India the available

cropping area should be xed into

viable land holding as decided by the

land reform commiee of 1972 and as

given Table 1. Agricultural land should

be xed, ploed and structured within

e a c h s t a t e a c c o r d i n g t o t h e

recommendaons of the states as given

in Table 1. Then they should be

numbered as we have the same postal

code running all over the country. Each

plot is designated with a cropping

paern reasonably exible enough to

adjust with the vagaries of monsoon.

Thus we will have low land paddy

culvaon zones, cereal and millets

zones, pulses and oil seed zones, fruits

a n d o t h e r h o r c u l t u ra l zo n e s ,

plantaon crops zones, coon and bre

crops zones, spices and condiments

zones, cale and dairy farming zones,

sheep and goat rearing zones, irrigated

and dry land agricultural zones, wet

land areas, sheries and aquaculture

areas, planted forest areas, perennial

forest areas etc. Each farm is numbered

and i t s character i scs and the

suggested cropping paerns are

computerized and monitored at the all

India level. Thus each farm land in each

agroclimac and cropping zone can be

monitored via satellite and adjustments

i n c ro p a l l o ca o n , p ro d u c o n ,

markeng and distribuon can be

executed. As in many other countries

less and less people should be involved

in farming operaon and more and

more people should be involved in agri

business.

4. Agriculture is no more a way of

life but a professional occupaon which

requires knowledge, technology and

tools. The farmer's job is that of a

professional business man. He should

be a manager with entrepreneurial ship

and business acumen. Hence all are not

t to be farmers in the modern sense of

the term. The ploed and numbered

agricultural holdings should be alloed

only to the really capable and willing

hands . For example in Hol land

government divided the reclaimed land

into plots of 25 acres each and alloed

to those families only aer interview

and aptude tests of both husband and

wife. They were asked to culvate crops

as per the direcon of the agricultural

department of the government. Similar

approaches should be carried out in

India instead of totally unstructured

and unplanned farm operaons done

by poor and illiterate people who can do

nothing beer than hard manual work.

5. Mechanizaon should be

developed according to agroclimac

and cropping paern of each region and

state. As already menoned machines

should be developed on crops and agro

cl imac specic l ines. Thus the

machines developed for wet land

culvaon is dierent from dry land

culvaon. Similarly the machines

needed for culvaon of coon is

dierent from that of sugarcane or

paddy, wheat or soybean, maize,

wheat, paddy etc. Research and

d e v e l o p m e n t s h o u l d f o c u s o n

developing crop specic and agro

climac region specic machines

instead of imitang foreign made

machineries. Then only the Indian

agr icu l ture can be mechanized

eecvely and eciently.

6. Infrastructural facilies like

stable availability of electricity, roads

a n d o t h e r t r a n s p o r t a o n a n d

communicaon facilies should be

established all over the country so that

movement of agricultural machineries,

accessories and spare parts can be

made easily done. Similarly the farm

requirements for seeds, ferlizers,

pescides, inseccides can be reached

to every farm and farm products can

transported for distribuon and

markeng in various parts of the

country and even for export.

7. Thus introducing appropriate

farm machineries onfarm employment

can be reduced to the minimum while

o farm employment in processing,

packing, grading, storing, distribuon,

sales, markeng etc. can be increased.

In many developed countries the actual

percentage of populaon involved in

farming is less than ve per cent while

more than 75% of the people are

involved in agribusiness related o

farm employment.

8. Ecological and environmental

aspects of our country is of paramount



Dr. K. T. Chandy He has authored 676 booklets on various topics

coming under environment management and

agrirelated subjects.

He is on the Editorial Board of

(Krishi Jagran Media Group.)

importance. For the ecological stability

of the country dependence of huge

populaon on marginal and small

holdings doing mostly manual agricul

ture should disappear and adequate

and appropriate mechanizaon should

be introduced.



Narmada Biochem. Pvt. Ltd. o r g a n i z e d a G r a m S e v a Sahkarisami meet of Tahsil Abhore at

Punjab on 9th May and dealer meet at

Ahmedabad on 8th May respecvely to

create awareness about bioferlizers,

its uses and impacts on soil.

The company discussed NBCL

p ro d u c t s ra n ge & i n fo r m e d to

parcipants that NBCL is one of the

leading manufacturers of B I O &

chemical ferlizers, micronutrients, soil

condioner, organic manure & water

soluble ferlizers. NBCL has introduced

BIOGOLD and PROM as its innovave

brands in the market.

T h e B I O G O L D i s i d e a l fo r

integrated nutrients management as

well as intensive organic cropping

paern which is derived from 100%

organic ingredients and is registered

under F.C.O.

The PROM is a green chemistry

product of Phosphate Rich Organic

Manure enriched with essenal

micronutrients. It has moveable

organic carbon which improves the

I n d i a w i t h a n n u a l q u a n t y o f

organic/b io/chemica l fer l i zers

(indigenous + imported) approx. 8.5 lac

MT per annum, he adds.

Mr. H C Saxena in Ahmedabad

discussed in detailed about soil

condioner and importance of SOIL

HEALTH CARD & Bioferlizers whereas

Mr. Basudev Roy shared praccal

experience of the PROM & other

products of the company.

M r M a n u b h a i P a t e l , M r

Hemantbhai Patel, (owner of Gajanand

Ferlisers), Mr. Gafaji Thakar, Mr

Chiragbhai Patel and Mr Rameshbhai

Pate l , s e c reta r i e s /c h a i r m a n o f

cooperave sociees of Kuha, Miroli

and Pirana Lat shared the uses of

PROM in their eld and appreciated the

result of the product.

Mr. Chandartkant Patel owner of

M/S Shak Agro Chem and Ferlizers

and Mr. Jasvinder Singh sales ocer

Hanumangarh thanked parcipants

with the slogan of NBCL Jamin Balvan

to Kishan Dhanwan in both the

meengs.

PROM, a green chemistry productDineshbhai Patel

eciency of soil for beer crop

producon growth; NBCL is only

company in India which has introduced

PROM in its product range.

Mr. Dineshbhai Patel, Managing

Director ofN B C L , addressed the

occasion in Punjab & informed that this

company has four Organic, Bio &

chemical ferlizers manufacturing units

with CITY compost. The company is

markeng its products in 11 states of



Dr. K. T. Chandy He has authored 676 booklets on various topics

coming under environment management and

agrirelated subjects.

He is on the Editorial Board of

(Krishi Jagran Media Group.)



Narmada Biochem. Pvt. Ltd. o r g a n i z e d a G r a m S e v a Sahkarisami meet of Tahsil Abhore at

Punjab on 9th May and dealer meet at

Ahmedabad on 8th May respecvely to

create awareness about bioferlizers,

its uses and impacts on soil.

The company discussed NBCL

p ro d u c t s ra n ge & i n fo r m e d to

parcipants that NBCL is one of the

leading manufacturers of B I O &

chemical ferlizers, micronutrients, soil

condioner, organic manure & water

soluble ferlizers. NBCL has introduced

BIOGOLD and PROM as its innovave

brands in the market.

T h e B I O G O L D i s i d e a l fo r

integrated nutrients management as

well as intensive organic cropping

paern which is derived from 100%

organic ingredients and is registered

under F.C.O.

The PROM is a green chemistry

product of Phosphate Rich Organic

Manure enriched with essenal

micronutrients. It has moveable

organic carbon which improves the

I n d i a w i t h a n n u a l q u a n t y o f

organic/b io/chemica l fer l i zers

(indigenous + imported) approx. 8.5 lac

MT per annum, he adds.

Mr. H C Saxena in Ahmedabad

discussed in detailed about soil

condioner and importance of SOIL

HEALTH CARD & Bioferlizers whereas

Mr. Basudev Roy shared praccal

experience of the PROM & other

products of the company.

M r M a n u b h a i P a t e l , M r

Hemantbhai Patel, (owner of Gajanand

Ferlisers), Mr. Gafaji Thakar, Mr

Chiragbhai Patel and Mr Rameshbhai

Pate l , s e c reta r i e s /c h a i r m a n o f

cooperave sociees of Kuha, Miroli

and Pirana Lat shared the uses of

PROM in their eld and appreciated the

result of the product.

Mr. Chandartkant Patel owner of

M/S Shak Agro Chem and Ferlizers

and Mr. Jasvinder Singh sales ocer

Hanumangarh thanked parcipants

with the slogan of NBCL Jamin Balvan

to Kishan Dhanwan in both the

meengs.

PROM, a green chemistry productDineshbhai Patel

eciency of soil for beer crop

producon growth; NBCL is only

company in India which has introduced

PROM in its product range.

Mr. Dineshbhai Patel, Managing

Director ofN B C L , addressed the

occasion in Punjab & informed that this

company has four Organic, Bio &

chemical ferlizers manufacturing units

with CITY compost. The company is

markeng its products in 11 states of

10 ISSUE-6 JUNE 2015AGRICULTURE WORLD www.krishijagran.com 112015 JUNE ISSUE-6 AGRICULTURE WORLDwww.krishijagran.com

Th e D i v i s i o n o f A g r i c u l t u r a l

Engineering, ICAR was established in

the year 1945. The mandates of the

division are: conducng strategic

research on design and development of

technologies &equipment in the areas of Farm

Machinery & Power, Agricultural Processing

and Structures and food engineering, Protected

Culvaon, Soil and Water Engineering and

Renewable Energy Sources with extension of

technologies to farmers and entrepreneurs.

The mandate of the division has further been

expanded recently to include conducng basic

and applied research in food science and

technology and food safety related areas.

Presently, Dr. K. Alagusundaram is the

Deputy Director General of the Agricultural

Engineering Division and very well known for

his achievements in the areas of food and crop

processing technology. Prior to joining as DDG

(AE), he served as the Director of Indian

Instute of Crop Processing Technology

(Ministry of Food Processing Industries) which

is located at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. Dr. K.

Alagusundaram obtained his undergraduate

Agricultural Engineering degree from Tamil

Nadu Agricultural University. He obtained one

of his Master degree in Farm Power and

Machinery from the Asian Instute of

Technology, Thailand, and another one in food

technologies from the University of Manitoba,

Canada. He earned his Doctorate degree in

Food Process Engineering from the University

of Manitoba, Canada. His main focus of work

will be creang, at several places in the country,

NABL accredited Food Tesng Laboratory, ISO

cered Food Processing Training cum Business

Incubaon Centers and world class research

l a b o r a t o r i e s f o r r e s e a r c h i n f a r m

mechanizaon, food processing, renewable

energy use in agriculture and soil and water

conservaon engineering.

In an interview with Agriculture World, Dr.

Alagusundaram discussed upon key working

areas of engineering division, status of mechanizaon in India and

signicance of value addion in crop produce. Here are the excerpts of the

discussion:

Agriculture Engineering Division of ICAR is strategic research body

established for designing and development of technologies & equipment.

How is this division funconing across India?

The Agriculture engineering division is funconing as an apex body,

undertakes basic, applied and adapve research leading to development

and improvement of equipment, technology, process for crop producon,

postharvest technology &food processing, energyuse in agriculture and

rural industries and irrigaon & drainage. We provide lead a huge team of

researchers across the country which include 6 R&D instutes directly under

the administrave control of the division, 6 All India Coordinated Research

Projects (shortly called as AICRPs) and 2 Network Projects all over India.

Recently 5 Consora Research Plaorms (shortly called as CRPs) were also

iniated. With the help of this huge network we plan, coordinate and

monitor R&D Programs and serve as an informaon storehouse in

Agricultural Engineering.

The six Research Instutes funconing under the division are:

1. Central Instute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal,

2. Central Instute on PostHarvest Engineering and Technology

(CIPHET), Ludhiana

3. Central Instute of Research on Coon Technology (CIRCOT), Mumbai,

FMBT INTERVIEW FMBTINTERVIEW

4. Naonal Instute of Research on

Jute & Allied Fiber Technology

(NIRJAFT), Kolkata,

5. Indian Instute of Natural Resins

and Gums (IINRG), Ranchi and

6. Indian Agricultural Stascs

Research Instute (IASRI), New

Delhi.

The six All India Coordinated Research

Projects are:

1. PostHarvest Engineering and

Technology

2. Farm Implements & Machinery,

3. Plasculture Engineering and

Technology

4. Energy in Agriculture and Agro

Based Industry

5. E r g o n o m i c s a n d S a f e t y i n

Agriculture, and

6. Ulizaon of Animal Energy

The ve newly launched Consora

Research Plaorms are:

1. Secondary Agriculture

2. Health Foods

3. Energy from Agriculture

4. Farm Mechanizaon and Precision

Farming

5. Natural Fibres

The two Net Work Projects are:

1. Harvest, Processing and Value

Addion of Natural Resins and

Gums

2. Conservaon of Lac Insect Genec

Resources

These instutes, AICRPs, CRPs and

Net Work projects are spread across the

country in more than 120 locaons.

Our main mission is to develop and

introduce needbased and region

specic engineering technologies to

a c h i e v e s u s t a i n a b l e e n h a n c e d

producvity and protabi l i ty of

dierent farming systems. Farmer are

the important clientele for us and we

create technologies suitable to small

and medium farm holders. We oer

numerous hands on training programs

to producers in our instutes and

through our A I C R Ps , C R Ps and

Network projects.

What is the current scenario of farm

mechanizaon in India?

MECHANIZATION IN

FOOD PROCESSING IS

MAJOR THRUST AREA

Dr. K. Alagusundaram

Deputy Director General of the Agricultural Engineering Division, ICAR, New Delhi

Farm mechanizaon in India is sll

in its early stages. In the global scenario

India is sll lower than United States,

Western Europe, Russia, Brazil and

China. India stands on the 8th posion

at the internaonal level. During last

two decades, we have achieved just 5 %

growth. The average farm machinery

availability is sll very low in the country

compared to our neighbor country,

China.

Increasing costs and shrinking

populaons of farm labourers make

farming in India less remunerave. The

shortage of labourers during peak

seasons of harvest, sowing and land

preparaon causes farming operaons

unmely leading to lower yields and

crop losses. It is also imperave that

primary and secondary processing

operaons need to be done by the

producers and on the farm sites.

Mechanizaon of such postharvest

unit operaons for numerous crops

need to introduced in our farms to make

the farming protable. For the staple

crops like wheat and rice, harvesng

and threshing operaons have been

mechanized to the level of 6070 %,

while for other crops the mechanizaon

level is less than 5 %.

Farm mechanizaon has become a

dire necessity in view of signicant

reducon in supply of labor for

agricultural operaons during peak

seasons. The agricultural operaons like

seeding, crop care and harvesng of

cereals and horcultural crops are on

top priority for the farmers. But

mechanizaon of these operaons is

sll not up to the level of farmers'

expectaons. Farmers need complete

mechanizaon package for major crops.

The benet of hitech, aordable and

hiproducve agricultural machinery

should be passed to farmers through

creaon of hubs for such farm

equipment.

It does not necessarily mean we do

not have such technologies. The

connuous research eorts over

several decades by our sciensts in our

own instutes and the AICRP centers in

State Agricultural Universies have

resulted numerous technologies that

are suitable to Indian farmers. These

need to be taken to the farmer in a way

he understands the benet of using

such machinery for farming and post

harvest operaons. Our division

proposes to take up the acvity of

popularizing our technologies on a

Mission Mode so the benet our

research reaches the farmer in

meaningful ways.

Although India is agricultural country

but its farm holding is mostly small so

how can a small farmer aord the

expense of costly farm machinery?

First thing, I want to say small

holding is not an issue in adopng the

machinery for farming and postharvest

operaons. The focus of our research

eorts is mainly on creang useful

technologies for small to medium farm

holders. Usefulness of a machinery in

small farms, aordability by small

farmers, meliness of operaons and

sustainability of such technology over

long periods of me are the major

common base on which we conduct

research. Of course, we have not

ignored large farms, in several of our

centers research also focuses on

invenng new technologies for large

farms too.

Generally, awareness about the

farm machinery is very lile and we

need to make farmers know of the

developments in farm mechanizaon

and postharvest processing. In many

instances, when farmers are unable to

purchase and use some of these

machinery due to prohibive costs, we

may support it by allowing them to rent

the machinery through cooperave

machinery hiring centers.

Apart from this, the Government

has launched a major program called"

S u b m i s s i o n o n A g r i c u l t u r a l

Mechanizaon (SMAM)" to promote

the usage of farm machines and

increase the farm power availability up

to 2.0 kW/ha. The major objecves of

this Mission are to increase the reach of

farm mechanizaon to small and

marginal farmers and to the regions

where availability of farm power is low

and to create awareness among

stakeholders through demonstraon

and capacity building acvies. In order

to oset the adverse economics of scale

arising due to small land holdings and

high cost of individual ownership, the

mission also aims to promote custom

hiring centers and hightech hubs and

high value farm equipment.

The farmers economic status can

be improved upon only if he value adds

his crop and brings to market than

selling it raw. During harvest seasons

due to glut in the market, oen, there

are no buyers for the produce and the

farmers are forced to sell them at low

low prices or throw them on the streets.

Value addion does not mean huge

investments. Small and marginal

farmers can easily aord to have small

primary processing centers and rural

pack houses so they can value add and

sell at a good margin of prot. Our

instutes and AICRP centers work

towards idenfying technologies for

postharvest primary and secondary

processing that are of low cost and can

easily be replicated by producers.

We are giving a complete soluon

of mechanizaon and food processing

at dierent stages from seed sowing to

markeng of produce through our

'Capacity Building and Incubaon

Program' which aims at entrepreneur

ship and enterprise development

across India. Food processing training

cum incubaon center needs to be

created at numerous places in the

country so the producers, their women

and rural youth are oered hands on

training on processing and value

addion. This will help in new coage

level food processing business ventures

in rural areas. Such ventures by farmers

will have mulvariate benets such as:

The farmer will get a beer return from his produce which is value

added

The postharvest loss due to poor handling and transportaon will

get eliminated to greater food

products will be available for

markeng locally and interna

onally

This is a wonderful way of creang greater employment opportunies

in rural India

Currently, we are working on

creang food processing training cum

incubaon centers in ve dierent

places in the country. If funds become

available these must be replicated at

the rate of a minimum of one in each

State to begin with.

What is the scope of food processing in

India? What iniaves have been

taken by government for its promo

on?

Processed food will play a major

role in future and soon "Kitchenless

homes" are going to be a reality. India

has to see the creaon of as many food

processing industries in rural India so a

minimum of 50% of our producer are

processed and value added on the farm

sites. In addion to the rural food

processing industries, large scale urban

food industries should also come into

play. These large scale urban industries

may take the minimally processed foods

from rural industries as their raw

material for further processing. Several

Mega Food Parks are coming up in the

country. New ventures on medium to

large scale food processing can be

iniated in these mega food parks.

To meet the naonal and interna

onal safety standards our food

industr ies must adopt to good

manufacturing pracces including

proper implementaon of HACCP

rules. The safety and quality of the

processed and raw foods need to be

tested periodical ly and labelled

appropriately for the buyer to examine.

Food quality tesng laboratories need

also to be established at many places in

the country to help the newly coming

up food industries.

Our Division, using the nancial

support from the Ministry of Food

Processing Industries, Government of

India, oers supports for creang food

quality tesng laboratories. For new

food quality tesng laboratories or for

expansion of exisng one the project

oers up to 50% of costs on equipment

and up to 35% of cost on infrastructure.

There is a need to set up food

processing units in villages as only 2.2

per cent farmers are beneciaries of

such acvies. This should be increased

to more than 6 per cent to generate 4.21

lakh jobs for rural youth. Due to the

research eorts of ICAR and State

Agricultural Universies we have

achieved a tremendous growth in food

producon. Now is the me we focus

on reducing our postharvest losses,

value add our farm produce, make the

farmer get greater income and make

more food available for consumpon.

FARM MECHANIZATION IN INDIA Changing Scenario and the Way Forward

Farm mechanizaon scenario

India is in the early stages of

evoluon as far as mechanizaon is

concerned. The country is driving

towards greater mechanizaon due to

labour shortages and pressure to boost

producvity. Because, labour shortage

was not a big issue a few years ago,

therefore, big move towards mechani

zaon is going to come only in the

future. It increased in recent years due

to the rural employment guarantee

scheme and migraon to urban areas.

Farm mechanizaon in India has

come a long way during the last 60 years

and sll there is tremendous scope as it is

required in every unit operaon of

agricultural producon, post harvest,

food processing and rural l iving.

F a r m e r s , p o l i c y m a k e r s a n d

developmental agencies now realize

that for raising farm producvity at

reduced unit cost of producon,

mechanizaon is essenal. From the

economic point of view human labour

on farm sector becomes a liability

rather than asset. With increasing

labour wages and agriculture produce

market prices, farmers, specially, the

medium and large ones are looking for

labour saving devices to remain

compeve. As demand for farm

mechanizaon is escalang and it is

almost becoming the today's farm

necessity, mechanizaon has come to

centre stage with the globalizaon of

world markets.

The total power availability on

Indian farms has increased from 0.293

to 1.841 kW/ha at a CAGR of 4.58%

during the last forty one years. The

overall mechanizaon level in India is

only 4045% even though 90% of the

total farm power is contributed by

mechanical and electrical power

s o u r c e s . E v e n t h o u g h f a r m

mechanizaon shows an increasing

trend, there are wide ranging disparies

FMBT INTERVIEW

To make the cost of machinery affordable and to make them

available to all farmers, Govt. has launched a credit-linked

subsidy scheme for establishment of farm machinery banks

and hi-tech high productive equipment hub for custom hiring

for increasing the reach of farm mechanization to small

and marginal farmers and to the regions where availability of

farm power is low; and promoting 'Custom Hiring Centers' to

offset the adverse economies of scale arising due to small

landholding and high cost of individual ownership.

Farm Mechanization in India: Changing Scenario and the Way Forward FMBT

132015 JUNE ISSUE-6 AGRICULTURE WORLDwww.krishijagran.com12 ISSUE-6 JUNE 2015AGRICULTURE WORLD www.krishijagran.com

holders. Usefulness of a machinery in

small farms, aordability by small

farmers, meliness of operaons and

sustainability of such technology over

long periods of me are the major

common base on which we conduct

research. Of course, we have not

ignored large farms, in several of our

centers research also focuses on

invenng new technologies for large

farms too.

Generally, awareness about the

farm machinery is very lile and we

need to make farmers know of the

developments in farm mechanizaon

and postharvest processing. In many

instances, when farmers are unable to

purchase and use some of these

machinery due to prohibive costs, we

may support it by allowing them to rent

the machinery through cooperave

machinery hiring centers.

Apart from this, the Government

has launched a major program called"

S u b m i s s i o n o n A g r i c u l t u r a l

Mechanizaon (SMAM)" to promote

the usage of farm machines and

increase the farm power availability up

to 2.0 kW/ha. The major objecves of

this Mission are to increase the reach of

farm mechanizaon to small and

marginal farmers and to the regions

where availability of farm power is low

and to create awareness among

stakeholders through demonstraon

and capacity building acvies. In order

to oset the adverse economics of scale

arising due to small land holdings and

high cost of individual ownership, the

mission also aims to promote custom

hiring centers and hightech hubs and

high value farm equipment.

The farmers economic status can

be improved upon only if he value adds

his crop and brings to market than

selling it raw. During harvest seasons

due to glut in the market, oen, there

are no buyers for the produce and the

farmers are forced to sell them at low

low prices or throw them on the streets.

Value addion does not mean huge

investments. Small and marginal

farmers can easily aord to have small

primary processing centers and rural

pack houses so they can value add and

sell at a good margin of prot. Our

instutes and AICRP centers work

towards idenfying technologies for

postharvest primary and secondary

processing that are of low cost and can

easily be replicated by producers.

We are giving a complete soluon

of mechanizaon and food processing

at dierent stages from seed sowing to

markeng of produce through our

'Capacity Building and Incubaon

Program' which aims at entrepreneur

ship and enterprise development

across India. Food processing training

cum incubaon center needs to be

created at numerous places in the

country so the producers, their women

and rural youth are oered hands on

training on processing and value

addion. This will help in new coage

level food processing business ventures

in rural areas. Such ventures by farmers

will have mulvariate benets such as:

The farmer will get a beer return from his produce which is value

added

The postharvest loss due to poor handling and transportaon will

get eliminated to greater food

products will be available for

markeng locally and interna

onally

This is a wonderful way of creang greater employment opportunies

in rural India

Currently, we are working on

creang food processing training cum

incubaon centers in ve dierent

places in the country. If funds become

available these must be replicated at

the rate of a minimum of one in each

State to begin with.

What is the scope of food processing in

India? What iniaves have been

taken by government for its promo

on?

Processed fo

Krishi jagran agriculture world june 2015

Documents