Harvesting growth

More farm mechanisation won't hurt jobs either

The Ficci-Yes Bank report on farm mechanisation couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. For one, since it suggests waiving of VAT and excise duty on farm machinery, this is the time the Budget exercise has just begun. More important, the study points out that, while the use of new devices in performing key farm operations is vital for doubling agricultural growth from the present 2 per cent, the adverse effect on rural employment is likely to be more than offset by the new jobs created in the post-harvest handling and value-addition of larger farm produce. Greater use of machines in agriculture has turned all the more essential in view of new challenges posed by factors like the decline of natural resources and climate change. Besides, the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has increased the scarcity of farm labour during peak agricultural seasons like sowing and harvesting, especially in states where agriculture is doing well. This has increased the need for mechanisation in these operations. The growing threat to natural resources, notably land and water, has necessitated switching over to resource-conservation technologies such as zero-tillage, raised-bed planting, precision farming and drip or sprinkler irrigation. These require specific machinery and equipment, some of which have to be imported. In fact, such devices also need to be manufactured locally to bring down their costs. The “laser land leveler”, which uses laser rays to make the fields perfectly even to save nearly 30 per cent irrigation water besides ensuring uniform crop-stand, is a case in point. Till recently, it had to be imported and was, therefore, too costly even for those who buy the machines and then hire it out to individual farmers. But the development of indigenous designs for local manufacture has made it affordable. This is also true of drip and sprinkler irrigation equipment, multi-crop combine-harvesters, sugarcane planters, cotton-picking equipment and zero-tillage seed drills, all of which are necessary for saving time and labour, cutting down crop production costs, reducing post-harvest losses and boosting crop output and farm incomes.

Moreover, farm mechanisation, is imperative when it comes to mitigating the effect of climate change by readjusting crop sowing schedules. The climate change-driven early onset of summers in the northern states has often resulted in wheat yield dropping by 1.5 quintal per hectare with every one week’s delay in its planting after mid-November. This loss can be averted by sowing wheat early, but that is possible only if the previous paddy crop is harvested mechanically and wheat is planted with zero-till seed drills without ploughing the land to save on time in both these operations. Taking all this into account, there seems a good case for pondering over the suggestions mooted in the Ficci-Yes Bank report and encouraging greater automation of Indian farming.