Chapter 1

The NET geography ka area of India is 329 million hectare

166 million hectare is cultivable land

The net shown area is 142 million hectare

The gross cropped area is 189.5 million hectare

The farm Holdings in India is classified as marginal farmer less than 1 hectare

Small farmer 1-2 hectare

Semi medium farmer 2-4 hectare

Medium former 4 - 10 hectare

Large farmer greater than 10 hectare

More than 75% farmer belongs to marginal and small category with more than 70% area under
rainfed

Farming operation need some type of power unit at the farm operation machinery like

1 seed bed prepration preparation

2 sowing

3 Water pumping,

4 spraying

5 inter culture,

6 harvesting,

7 threshing,

8 processing,

9 hauling work.

Sources of farm power

1. Human power,
2. animal power,
3. mechanical power
4. Mechanical power includes Tractors power tillers self propelled combines Oil Engines like
diesel engine and petrol engine
5. Electric power
 6. Renewable energy like biogas solar wind energy

Human power- it is source for operating small implement and tool stationery work like Chef cutting
lifting water winnowing etc. average man can develop maximum power of about 75 watts or 0.1
horsepower

Animal power- power developed by an average pair of blocks is about 750 watts which is equal to
one horsepower.

A draft animal can exert about one tenth of its body weight

Mechanical power- oil engine which is also known as internal combustion engine is a good device for
converting fuel into useful work.

Thermal efficiency of diesel engine is 32 to 38% where as that of petrol engine 25 25 to 32%

Manufacturing was started in India in the year 1961 by first manufacturer M/s Eicher Good Earth.

Electrical power- operating cost remains almost constant it is used for water pumping dairy industry
cold storage farm product processing

Renewable energy obtained from biomass sun and wind

Merits of human power-

Easily or available and used for all type of work

Demerits- costliest power compared to all other form of power and very low efficiency affected by
weather condition

Merits of animal power

Easily available used for all type of work low initial investment supplies manure to the field and fuel
for farmer

Demerits

Not very efficient, season and weather affect the efficiency, cannot work at a stretch,

Merits of mechanical power

Efficiency is high, not affected by weather, less space requirements,

Demerits

Initial capital investment is high

Fuel is costly

Repair and maintenance needs technical knowledge

Electrical power
Very cheap form of power

High efficiency

Not affected by season

Demerits

Initial capital investment is high

Require good technical knowledge

Less knowledge cause great danger

Status of farm power in India- about 78% population belongs to small and marginal former and
about 22% belongs to semi medium , medium and large farming holder. Yet Indian agriculture legs
farm power which needs to be increased from 1.25 KW per hectare to at least 2 kw per hectare.

Mechanization possibility is strongly influenced by

1. farm size
2. cost of farm labour
3. Availability of suitable machine
4. Socio economic compulsions of local people to have custom hiring services

Desirable farm power under present circumstances-

Tractors 66 /1000 hectare Cropping intensity, (%) = 141 Productivity, (t/ha) = 2.29

Power Tiller 200/ 1000 hectare Power available, (kW/ha) = 2.54 Net sown area per tractor = 18

Draught animal 1000 /1000 hectare

Maximum mechanization is available for rice and wheat major is for whaet.

Farm mechanization- farm mechanism is the application of Engineering and Technology in

agriculture operation to do a job in a better way to improve productivity . This includes development
application and management of

all mechanical aids for field operation, water control, material handling, storing and processing

Note- ploughman has to walk about 66 km on foot while ploughing one hectare of land Once by
bullocks having 15 cm furrow width.

Fertilizers and seed should be placed at a certain depth with respect to each other for optimum
interaction.

A Field should be have uniform slope.

Note- bakhar or Guntaka is a type of blade harrow.

Field capacity of traditional implements is about 0.3-0.4 hectare per day.

Note- the area under hill agriculture diara, tal, shifting cultivation is not very suitable for use of
heavy mechanical power.

M/s eicher Good Earth Limited is the first Tractor manufacturer in India.

Seedbed preparation takes about 10 to 25% of the energy used in the field operation.

Energy efficient equipments.

Rotovater - save 32 to 35% time and energy in heavy soil

Disc harrow- it is very popular implement for seed bed preparation it is used under all condition.

Facilities for training industry

Central region for farm machinery training and Testing Institute budhni Madhya Pradesh for testing
of tractors.

Northern region for farm machinery training and Testing Institute Hisar Haryana fore testing of
combines.

Southern region for farm machinery training and Testing Institute Anantpur Andhra Pradesh

note - dufan (two row) and tifan (three row) is type of plough , Enatigoru and FESPO all local sowing
devices.

Tractor Drawn seed cum fertilizer drill equipped with inverted T type row opener are suitable for
showing of seeds without seed bed preparation directly after paddy harvest under zero till program.

Khurpi is the most versatile hand hoe for removal of weed it takes 300 to 700 man hours to cover
one hectare.

The yield of crop is affected to the extent of 20 to 60% if weeds are not control

Use of long handle weeders like wheel Hoe and peg type weeders reduces the weeding time to 25-
110 hours per hectare.

Fertilizers are generally applied in field by broadcasting method

Potasik And phosphatic fertilizer have low mobility and need to applied near root zone. Line sowing
facilitate better use of fertilizer.

Harvesting and threshing consumes about 10 to 35% of the total energy for farming.

During 70s the country witnessed a large number of thresher accident so Government of India
passed an act called it dangerous machine Regulation Act 1983 this act is a guideline for
manufacturer user and dealers.

thresher can be Used for multiple crops by changing

1. concave clearance
2. threshing drum speed
 3. blower speed.

Raspbar type paddy thresher is most suitable for paddy.

Maiz sheller is simple device for removing kernels from maize cobs.

Custom hiring service- farmers who don't have their own tractors combine thresher and other
machinery try to hire machines for their own use on payment basis.

- minimum tillage - farming practice that limit soil disturbance only to planting stations while leaving
the rest of the soil and disturbed.

Zero tillage- it is a land preparation method that sows seeds without disturbing the soil or previous
crop residue.