What is the best Agricultural Mechanim?
Sustainable agricultural mechanization can be achieved through the implementation of economically viable, environmentally responsible and socially acceptable government policies.
Agricultural Mechanim in india
Smallholder farmers are the world's top food producers and will need to increase their production by 100% by 2050 to feed their growing population.
This must be achieved by conserving natural resources and therefore Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (SAM) will be fundamental to this process.
Being climate-friendly and eco-friendly, Sam essentially means conservation agriculture without bottom crops, which requires specific investments in mechanization.
First and foremost, these are sowing and transplanting machines that can penetrate the plant cover of the soil surface to place seeds and fertilizers at the necessary depths and distances, as well as devices for managing cover crops and weeds not only for crop production, but also for processing and mechanization along the entire value chain.
Mechanization investments are generally expensive, so providing specialized services would be the suggested way forward.
This requires collaboration between the private and public sectors and also involves public-private partnerships to develop in one form or another.
Given the poor track record of delivering mechanizations in the public sector, SAM delivery should be firmly in the hands of the private sector to commit to SAM principles or otherwise promote the concept through smart subsidies.
improved information flow through smallholder-friendly innovation platforms; and the continued development and testing of SAM technologies by regional centers of excellence are required, particularly for sub-Saharan Africa.
The world faces a crisis caused by a three-pronged attack that threatens the well-being of vast numbers of people on the planet.
The crisis - some call it the "perfect storm" - has its origins in the convergence of population growth, depletion of natural resources and the effects of climate change.
The world population is currently 7.
5 billion and is expected to increase to around 10 billion by 2050.
After that, it will continue to grow, possibly exceeding 12 billion by the end of the century.
Behind these global numbers are regional differences and it appears that Asia, particularly South Asia and Africa, will be home to the vast majority of the world's population as they experience the highest rates of growth.
Howard Buffett estimates that Africa's population is expected to grow from 1.
1 billion today to at least 2.
4 billion by 2050; while Asia's population will increase to 5.
3 billion from the current 4.
5 billion over the same period.
Faced with a finite natural resource base, the unsustainable progress of a global economy aiming for steady year-on-year growth means natural resource capital is being depleted everywhere.
While small farmers are not the primary culprits in widespread global forest destruction, they are certainly at least partly responsible for the depletion of soil water and forest resources at the local scale from small-scale.
It is calculated that we lose more than 9 billion hectares of farmland to erosion every year; In Africa, an estimated 22 percent of productive land is affected by some form of degradation.
The term "soil degradation" covers a variety of issues including: loss of organic matter and nutrients; desertification; floor sealing; erosion by air and water; reduced biodiversity; compaction and salinization.
In addition, soils can be damaged by pollution from human activities such as mining, road construction and hydrogeological phenomena such as landslides.
Many threats can occur simultaneously, so problems can multiply if not addressed early.
Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of water abstraction globally (more than three times in 50 years) and today it is estimated that 40 percent of the world's rural population lives in water-poor catchment areas.
Competing demands from industry and growing urban populations are exacerbating an already critical situation.
The mechanization of agriculture requires energy and this comes from agricultural energy sources.
The main source of agricultural energy in large-scale agriculture is diesel engines in tractors, combines, other self-propelled machines and stationary units, where electric motors also play an important role.
Engine power in general is increasing in the developing world as low-cost tractors and other engine powered technologies become increasingly available, particularly from India and China.
The use of draft animals for agricultural energy is still important in many developing countries.
While there is a clear trend towards replacing animals with motor power, it will take time for even fast-developing countries like India and China to catch up.
The Indian tractor industry is currently the largest in the world, producing a third of the world's tractor production.
On the other hand, China claims to be the world's leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the broadest sense, including tractors (two-wheel and four-wheel), implements, other self-propelled machinery, pumps, and machinery for processing agricultural products along the production value chain [14].
Similar trends exist in Latin America, where the power of draft animals is now reduced to about 25 percent of family farm energy sources.
Vector of trypanosomiasis, regional in SSA, draft animal accounts for up to 25 percent of agricultural energy.
Nevertheless, human muscle remains the most important source of agricultural energy in the developing world, and particularly in SSA, where humans still provide 65 percent of agricultural energy today, this represents a major constraint on agricultural and labor productivity growth; This greatly affects the punctuality of agricultural operations and is a major source of trouble.
So much so that the African Union has declared that the hand hoe should be “sent to a museum” by 2035.
Given the situation described above, we can see that low land and labor productivity can be a direct consequence of lack of access to and use of key means of production, including mechanization, global population.
The FAO estimates that global agricultural production needs to increase by 70 percent by 2050 and developing countries should increase by 100 percent, so business as usual is not really an option if we are to avoid widespread food shortages.
At the same time, we are witnessing a steady depletion of the planet's natural resources.
Of course, this is the natural resource base - our natural capital - that provides the environment for agricultural production.
Equally important in this sense are soil and water resources, which are vulnerable to abuse by traditional agricultural practices that involve intensive and over-tillage.
This situation makes family farms less productive, resulting in lower family income and an inability to invest in agriculture – including adequate investment in mechanization.
Rising poverty is causing family breakdowns among young, fit men who are migrating nationally and internationally to urban centers; Women, the elderly and children bear the brunt of food production on the family farm.
How useful is this article to you?
Average Score
5
/
Number of votes:
1
