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Ethiopia's agricultural development strategies bypassed smallholder mechanisation for decades. Mechanisation returned to the policy agenda in 2013 but recent pro-mechanisation rhetoric lacks operational commitments. Based on primary and secondary data, this paper traces the policies and policy narratives that have led to low mechanisation, and finds that mechanisation was deprioritised on the grounds that Ethiopia is labour- and land-abundant, but short of capital. With policy encouraging multiple cropping, but farming vulnerable to climate change, the paper argues for the development of a market for mechanisation, including mechanisation service provision through private and cooperative agents, to enhance smallholder access to mechanisation and unleash human energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanized farming is an indispensable part of modern agriculture. Bangladesh has managed to achieve significant progress in some components of farm mechanization i.e., irrigation and tillage. The majority of the agricultural operations are still being carried out with manual labor. This paper reports the status of agricultural machineries in the country while analyzing the historical policy changes towards intensive farm mechanization. The potential sectors requiring urgent attention for mechanization was also identified in this study. The manuscript discusses how mechanization could help ensure the food security of the country by maintaining timeliness of agricultural operation. Urgent introduction of mini-combined harvesters during COVID-19 pandemic was discussed as a commendable decision taken by the Government of Bangladesh. It also shows how the use of machine power is increasing in the country through custom hiring based ownership models of the machineries. Local manufacturing of agricultural machineries and spare parts was championed by the fact that small scale industries have developed in this sector. In line with this, we argued that the local companies should focus on precision manufacturing in the coming days. The manuscript also urged the need to include rural youth for sustainable farm mechanization process.

This paper reviews agricultural mechanization and reduced tillage use in the context of sustainable intensification in developing country agriculture. The scoping review includes selected and contrasting cases – including Zimbabwe (manual systems), Bangladesh (2-wheel – single axle tractor systems), India (4-wheel – i.e. 2 axles tractor systems), Kazakhstan (mechanized systems) and Brazil (diverse systems). The expansion of reduced tillage appears strongly associated with the level of agricultural mechanization – facilitated by a number of common drivers and contextualized by the prevailing farm power and intensity of tillage. Soil conservation, timely planting and farm power savings in crop establishment are important drivers for the expansion of reduced tillage across the world, facilitated by conducive markets, institutional and policy environments and the integration of diverse actors to introduce, adapt and promote the necessary components.

Indian agriculture is diverse and capable of producing most of the food and horticultural crops of the world. In spite of its top ranking in production of a number of crops including rice, wheat, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables, the stagnancy in productivity and shortage of agricultural produce are two major bottlenecks of Indian agriculture. Several studies suggest a direct correlation between farm mechanization and crop productivity. It saves inputs like seeds and fertilizers by 15-20%, labour requirement and operational time by 20-30%, increases cropping intensity by 5-20% and crop productivity by 10-15%. At present, Indian farmers are adopting farm mechanization at a faster rate in comparison to recent past. Farm power availability from tractors has grown from 0.007 kW/ha in 1960-61 to 1.03 kW/ha in 2013-14 and it is further estimated to reach 3.74 kW/ha by 2032-33. According to the World Bank estimates, half of the total Indian population would be in urban areas by 2050. It is further estimated that the percentage of farm workers of total work force would reduce to 49.9% in 2033 and 25.7% in 2050 from 54.6% in 2011. The share of agricultural workers in total power availability in 1960-61 was about 16.3%, which is going to reduce to 2.3% in 2032-33. The overall level of farm mechanization in the country is only 40-45% and 90% of the total farm power is contributed by mechanical and electrical power sources. To assure timeliness and quality in various field operations, the average farm power availability needs to be increased to a minimum of 2.5 kW/ha by 2020.

We investigated the role of labour in explaining the yield gap of cereals at both crop and farm levels on smallholder farms in Southern Ethiopia. A household survey containing detailed information of labour use at crop and farm level of ca. 100 farms in a maize-based system around Hawassa and ca. 100 farms in a wheat-based system around Asella was used for this purpose. Stochastic frontier analysis was combined with the principles of production ecology to decompose maize and wheat yield gaps. Actual maize and wheat yields were on average 1.6 and 2.6 t ha−1, respectively, which correspond to 23 and 26% of the water-limited yield (Yw) of each crop. For both crops, nearly half of the yield gap was attributed to the technology yield gap, indicating sub-optimal crop management to achieve Yw even for the farmers with the highest yields. The efficiency yield gap was ca. 20% of Yw for both crops; it was negatively associated with sowing date and with the proportion of women's labour used for sowing in the case of maize but with the proportion of hired labour used for sowing and weed control in the case of wheat. The resource yield gap was less than 10% of Yw for both crops due to small differences in input use between highest- and lowest-yielding farms. The contribution of capital and farm power availability to crop yields, input use and labour use was analysed at the farm level. Labour calendars showed that crops cultivated in Hawassa were complementary, with peak labour occurring at different times of the year. By contrast, crops cultivated in Asella competed strongly for labour during sowing, hand-weeding and harvesting months, resulting in potential trade-offs at farm level. Oxen ownership was associated with capital availability, but not farm power in Hawassa and with both capital availability and farm power in Asella. Farmers with more oxen applied more nitrogen (N) to maize in Hawassa and cultivated more land in Asella, which is indicative of an intensification pathway in the former and an extensification pathway in the latter. Differences in land:labour ratio and in the types of crops cultivated explained the different strategies used in the two sites. In both sites, although gross margin per unit area increased linearly with increasing crop yield and farm N productivity, gross margin per labour unit increased up to an optimal level of crop yield and farm N productivity after which no further response was observed. This suggests that narrowing the yield gap may not be economically rational in terms of labour productivity. We conclude that labour (and farm power) is not a major determinant of maize yield gaps in Hawassa, but is a major determinant of wheat yield gaps in Asella. • Labour calendars reveal competition for labour in Asella, but not in Hawassa. • Yield gaps for maize and wheat in Southern Ethiopia are around 80% of Yw. • The technology yield gap explains nearly half of the yield gap of both crops. • Lack of capital hinders maize intensification in Hawassa; access to farm power wheat intensification in Asella. • Labour is a major limiting factor in some African smallholder farming systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews agricultural mechanization and reduced tillage use in the context of sustainable intensification in developing country agriculture. The scoping review includes selected and contrasting cases – including Zimbabwe (manual systems), Bangladesh (2-wheel – single axle tractor systems), India (4-wheel – i.e. 2 axles tractor systems), Kazakhstan (mechanized systems) and Brazil (diverse systems). The expansion of reduced tillage appears strongly associated with the level of agricultural mechanization – facilitated by a number of common drivers and contextualized by the prevailing farm power and intensity of tillage. Soil conservation, timely planting and farm power savings in crop establishment are important drivers for the expansion of reduced tillage across the world, facilitated by conducive markets, institutional and policy environments and the integration of diverse actors to introduce, adapt and promote the necessary components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth in Pakistani agricultural sector lags behind growth in industry and services, creating an ever widening rural-urban income fissure. Agricultural mechanization plays a strategic role in improving agricultural production and productivity in developing countries. The average farm size in Pakistan is small (2.5 acres) and small and marginal land holdings (less than 2.0 ha) account for 85% of land holdings. Mechanizing small and non-contiguous group of small farms is against 'economies of scale' for individual ownership of farm machinery. It was observed that there was a direct correlation between farm power availability and productivity during the past six decades. Being an agrarian country, mechanization can be called as back bone of Pakistan's economy as it optimizes the use of biological, chemical and hydrological inputs. So far, Pakistan has only experienced selective farm mechanization as this concept has remained limited to use of tractors only and at the country level, the temporal analysis shows that an increase in tractor population from 1975 -1984 was about 341% while it was 61% from 1984-1994. At present there are about 0.94 million tractors in Pakistan, which alone provides 0.84 hp/acre. Land preparation is the only operation that is nearly 100% mechanized in the country for almost all crops with 901 thousand chisel plough and 108 thousand Mould board ploughs. The market of planting and spraying machinery has grown from 70 and 21 thousands in 2004 to 295 and 1438 thousands in 2014 respectively due to the inclination of the farming community towards mechanized sowing and spraying. The thrasher's market in Pakistan is estimated at 20,000-30,000 units annually by sales resulting in nearly 100% mechanized threshing operation for cereal crops. By increasing the available horse power per hectare and by the proper management of agricultural machinery the average crop yield can be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has transforming from subsistence farming which was dependent on human and animals, to mechanized farming using inanimate power sources like tractors, diesel engines and electric motors. In Punjab agriculture, the human and animal power has substantially reduced from 7.5% to 0.69% and 73% to 0.61% respectively due to increase in mechanical power from 17% to 76 % and electrical power from 1.7% to 23.5% from 1960-61 to 2012-13. The intensity of farm power availability has increased from 0.37 to 5.68 kW/ha during the same period. Correspondingly there has been an increase in the cropping intensity (112% to 196%), production (3.16 to 28.58 mt) and productivity (668 to 3638 kg/ha) of total food grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study indicates that there is increase in area, production and productivity of major food crops in Jammu & Kashmir State of India over the years but the rate of increase has been slow. Jammu region of the State has maximum cropping intensity (176.8%) followed by Kashmir (123%) and Ladakh (106%). The average land holding in the State is very low (0.66 ha) in comparison to National Average (1.68 ha). The unit farm power availability on gross cropped area basis is 0.78 kW contributed 51.2% by animated (human and animal power) sources and 48.8% from rest of the sources. The present agricultural production is insufficient to mitigate the requirement of growing population due to the limited scope of increase in cultivable area and low level of mechanization. The bottleneck in mechanization are due to non availability of improved equipment, small and scattered land holding, low investing capacity of the farmers and lack of awareness among farmers. Despite these, there is a great need and effort to increase the productivity and reduce the drudgery through mechanization inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful operation of a farming system is determined greatly by availability of farm power. The objective of this research was to examine the farm power status and requirement for small-scale rice farming operations in Riau Province. Primary and secondary data were gathered from various sources. A total of 120 farmers were interviewed to collect data primer from two selected rice centres in two regencies of the province during the 2008 rainy cropping season. The main sources of farm power practiced by small rice farmers are human labour and mechanical power. The total power available is still very low and remains under the minimum requirement for an efficient agriculture. The stage of the rice mechanization process is also relatively low and still below the take-off stage of the critical point of the mechanization process. Under these conditions, the availability of farm power has no effect on total cultivated area and yield of rice over years. The total energy required per hectare of rice farm operations was 418 kW-h (561 hp) on average. Although mechanized farm operations need more power, the total operation hours would decrease significantly. Efforts should be taken to continuously encourage small farmers to adopt mechanical power in order to carry out timely farm operations and make the rice production process more productive and efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]