7 thesis final

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INTRODUCTION

AGRICULTURE SECTOR IN INDIA

Agriculture is a critical sector of the Indian economy. Though its contribution to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country has fallen from about 30 percent in 1990-91 to less than 15 percent in 2011-12, a trend that is expected in the development process of any economy, agriculture yet forms the backbone of development. An average Indian still spends almost half of his/her total expenditure on food, while roughly half of India’s work force is still engaged in agriculture for its livelihood. Being both a source of livelihood and food security for a vast majority of low income, poor and vulnerable sections of society, its performance assumes greater significance in view of the proposed National Food Security Bill and the ongoing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. The experience from BRICS countries indicates that a one percentage growth in agriculture is at least two to three times more effective in reducing poverty than the same growth emanating from non-agriculture sectors. Given that India is still home to the largest number of poor and malnourished people in the world, a higher priority to agriculture will achieve the goals of reducing poverty and malnutrition as well as of inclusive growth. Since agriculture forms the resource base for a number of agro-based industries and agro-services, it would be more meaningful to view agriculture not as farming alone but as a holistic value chain, which includes farming, wholesaling, warehousing (including logistics), processing, and retailing. Further, it may be noted that in the last two Five Year Plans, it is clearly mentioned that for the economy to grow at 9 per cent, it is important that agriculture should grow at least by 4 per cent per annum. Achieving an 8-9 percent rate of growth in overall GDP may not deliver much in terms of poverty reduction unless agricultural growth accelerates. At the same time ‘growth with inclusiveness’ can be achieved only when agriculture growth accelerates and is also widely shared amongst people and regions of the country. All these factors point to just one thing: that agriculture has to be kept at the centre of any reform agenda or planning process, in order to make a significant dent on poverty and malnutrition, and to ensure long-term food security for the people.

Agriculture in India is unique in its characteristics, where over 250 different crops are cultivated in its varied agro-climatic regions, unlike 25 to 30 crops grown in many of the developed nations of the world. Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of the Indian economy contributing 18.5 per cent of national income, about 15 per cent of total exports and supporting two-thirds of the work force. India with its favorable agro-climatic conditions and rich natural resource base has become the world's largest producer across a range of commodities. India is the largest producer of coconuts, mango, banana, milk and dairy products, cashew nuts, pulses, ginger, turmeric and black pepper. It is also the second largest producer of rice, wheat, sugar, cotton, fruits and vegetables.

ISBE-B/2010-12/FW ISBE-B/FW/10-12/MUM/MKTG/009

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Present Food Grain production - After a near-stagnation or modest growth in output for several years, Indian agriculture has officially rebounded in 2007-08 with food grain production surging by 10 million tonnes, or 4.6 per cent, to touch a new high of 227.32 million tonnes. The grain output in 2006-07 was 217.28 million tonnes. The food grain production was estimated to touch 250.42 million tonnes in 2011-12.

Crop 2011-12 (in million tonnes)

2010-11 (final estimates)

Rice 102.75 95.98Wheat 88.31 86.87Coarse cereals 42.08 43.68Pulses 17.28 18.24Oilseeds 30.53 32.48Sugarcane 347.87 342.38Cotton 34.09 (million bales) 33.00

Source: ICAR, New Delhi

This has been possible only because of adoption of technology in the farm by the farmers of India in the recent times which has helped them to have more production per hectare of land now.


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INTRODUCTION TO FARM MECHANIZATION

The early agricultural mechanization in India was greatly influenced by the technological developments in England. Horse drawn and steam-tractor-operated equipments were imported during the later part of the nineteenth century. The horse drawn equipments imported from England were not suitable for bullocks and buffaloes being used in India. These were suitably modified to suit Indian draught animals. With the production of indigenous tractors and irrigation pumps, the use of mechanical power in agriculture, has been showing an increasing trend. As a result of Green Revolution in the sixties, the total food grain production increased from a mere 50.8 million tonnes during 1950-51 to 217 million tonnes in 2006-07, and productivity increased from 522 kg/ha to more than 1,500 kg/ha. The increase in production of food grains was possible as a result of adoption of quality seeds, higher dose of fertilizer and plant protection chemicals. Irrigation played a major role in increasing the productivity. Increased cropping intensity and higher quantity of inputs could no longer be effectively managed by animate power alone and, therefore, farmers adopted tractors, irrigation pumps, harvesters and power threshers extensively.

PROGRESS OF FARM MECHANISATION IN INDIA

The progress of agricultural mechanization has been closely linked with the overall development in production agriculture. Till 1950, very few farmers possessed prime movers like tractors, engines and motors. Heavy agricultural tractors and machinery were imported by government organizations mainly for land reclamation and development of large government farms.The picture changed quickly during the early sixties with the introduction of high yielding varieties of wheat and other crops which needed irrigation facilities. The progressive farmers soon realized that the traditional water lifts, which were driven by draught animals or operated manually, could not meet the water requirement of the high yielding varieties of different crops. Lift irrigation was, therefore, quickly mechanized through the use of electric motor or diesel engine powered pumps. The rising production of food grains resulting from the extending area under high yielding varieties could not be handled within the normal harvesting and threshing periods. The farmers in North India suffered heavy losses as a result of damage to harvested wheat during the late sixties and early seventies because the threshing of increased wheat production could not be completed before the onset of pre-monsoon rains. Large scale adoption of threshers operated by electric motors, engines and tractors that followed in early seventies onwards was a result of the need to complete threshing operation quickly. Then came the extensive use of tractors for primary tillage and transport and the use of tractor powered or self-propelled harvesting equipment.


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PRODUCTION - INDIAN SCENARIO

The productivity of farms depends greatly on the availability and judicious use of farm power by the farmers. Agricultural implements and machines enable the farmers to employ the power judiciously for production purposes. Agricultural machines increase productivity of land and labour by meeting timeliness of farm operations and increase work out-put per unit time. Besides its paramount contribution to the multiple cropping and diversification of agriculture, mechanization also enables efficient utilization of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and irrigation water. The production of irrigation pumps and diesel engines started during 1930s. The manufacture of tractors and power tillers started in 1960. Since then by the virtue of its inherent edge over the conventional means of farming, agricultural mechanization has been gaining popularity. The increased use of farm machines found expansion of cropped area and cropping intensity and also helped in diversification of agriculture from conventional crops to commercial crops. The manufacture of agricultural machinery in the country is carried out by village artisans, tiny units, small- scale industries and the State Agro-Industrial Development Corporations. Production of tractors, motors, engines and process equipment is the domain of the organized sector. The traditional artisans and small-scale industries rely upon own experience, user's feedback and government owned research and development institutions for technological support and operate from their backyards or on road side establishments without regular utility services. Medium and large-scale industries operate in their own premises with sound infrastructure, usually forming a part of an industrial estate, well established manufacturing and marketing facilities and employ skilled manpower. Diesel engines, electric motors, irrigation pumps, sprayers and dusters, land development machinery, tractors, spare parts, power tillers, post-harvest and processing machinery and dairy equipments are produced in this sector. They have professional marketing network of dealers and provide effective after sales service. They also have in-house research and development facilities or have joint ventures with advanced countries for technology up gradation. India is recognized, the world over, as a leader in the manufacture of agricultural equipment and machinery such as tractors, combine harvesters, plant protection equipment, drip irrigation and micro-sprinkler. Sizeable quantities of farm implements are exported to Africa, Middle East, Asia, South America and other countries. With increased cropping intensity, farmers have supplemented or largely replaced animate power with tractors, power tillers, diesel engines and electric motors. The growth in the electro- mechanical power in India is evident from the sale of tractors and power tillers, taken as an indicator of the adoption of the mechanized means of farming, during the last five years and is reported as follows:


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TERRITORY WISE PERCENTAGE DETAIL OF FARM MACHINERY SALE:

Territory %age of Domestic Sales

North (Punjab, Haryana & Uttar Pradesh) 29%Central (Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan) 21%East (Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa & Assam) 9%West (Gujarat & Maharashtra) 15%South (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka & Kerala) 26%

YEARLY TRACTORS SALE:

2000-01 2548252001-02 2252802002-03 1730982003-04 1903362004-05 2476932005-06 2929082006-07 2631462007-08 3465012008-09 3428362009-10 3938362010-11 5451092011-12 419270 till dec

India is largest manufacturer of tractors in India with an estimated 275000 units being produced in the last financial year.

Different sizes of tractors are manufactured in India ranging from less than 25 HP to more than 45 HP but most popular range is 31- 35 HP. The Tractor sales show that their demand is region specific. Punjab, Haryana and western UP constituted the major Tractor market. The share of eastern states, namely Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam had been consistently low at 7- 9% due to various socio- economic, agro-climatic and other reasons. The credit availability to the farmers in this area has been another major reason for the slow growth in the eastern states. Tractor sales in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been showing consistent growth since mid 1980’s. This region is expected to contribute more than 30% to the tractor industry in this decade. This expectation is based on the fact that the farmers in this southern region have been adopting high value case crops and latest crop production/ management practices. After a drop in sales in 2006-07 sales have risen in 2007-08.


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POWER TILLERS:

The production of power tillers started in 1961 with license to manufacture 12 models. At one time 12 models of power tillers were licensed to be manufactured. However, many of these units closed down or did not even start because of lack of their suitability to Indian farming conditions; poor after-sales service network, etc. presently only two manufacturers are producing power tillers. Since the pace of production was slow, the Government of India continued to allow limited import of tractors to meet the demand of the farmers till 1974. Currently the power tiller models being manufactured, and also those being imported from China, etc and being marketed for wetland, stationary and haulage work are being well received by the farmers. While approving foreign collaborations, Government of India made it mandatory that tractors to be allowed for manufacturing in India shall be tested under laboratory and field conditions to ensure that they were suitable for Indian farming conditions.

The Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute were mandated to test tractors, power tillers and other farm machinery for the benefit of manufacturers and users. A batch testing scheme was later introduced to enable manufacturers to continuously upgrade the technology and to safeguard user interests. For this purpose, the Government of India fixed norms of specific fuel consumption, noise, vibration, exhaust emission levels, ergonomics and safety measures, and other performance norms. Since then growth in production, quality and performance of tractors and other agricultural equipment has greatly improved. The manufacturers started offering these to farmers in various states covering upland and wetland farming conditions. Their introduction coincided with that of agricultural tractors which were more suitable for upland work and provided more comfortable work environment to the operators. The available models have a Drawbar power between 5.3 kW to 10.7 kW.Year Power Tillers Sale

Year Domestic sales2000-01 160182001-02 135632002-03 146132003-04 156652004-05 189852005-06 223032006-07 247912007-08 261352008-09 352942009-10 397942010-11 550002011-12 39,900 (till December)


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THE MAJOR TRACTORS AND FARM EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS IN INDIA ARE:

Balwan Tractors, Force Motors Ltd Captain Tractors Pvt. Ltd Crossword Agro Industries Eicher Escorts (Escort, Powertrac and Farmtrac) Ford Tractors HMT Tractors Indo Farm John Deere Mahindra Gujarat Tractor Limited Mahindra & Mahindra MARS Farm Equipments Ltd. New Holland Preet Tractors Punjab Tractors Ltd (SwarajTractors) Same Deutz-Fahr Ltd. Sonalika (International Tractors Ltd.) Standard TAFE VST Tillers Greaves Cotton Bengal Tools KAMCO Vijay Engineering & Machinery Co.

PERCENTAGE SHARE OF DIFFERENT FARM POWER SOURCES IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE:

Year Agricultural worker

Draught animals

Tractors Power tillers

Diesel engine

Electric motors

1971-72 10.64 52.86 8.45 0.11 17.16 10.791981-82 9.20 33.55 18.46 0.11 22.85 15.821991-92 7.22 20.50 26.14 0.16 21.14 24.842001-02 5.70 11.76 36.77 0.36 19.10 26.312005-06 5.39 9.97 38.45 0.44 20.09 25.662009-10 5.12 8.55 41.67 0.52 19.01 25.13Source: Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE), India

A BRIEF UP OF FARM MECHANIZATION ACROSS VARIOUS PART OF INDIA:


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Farm mechanization is regarded as sine-qua-non to reduce the human drudgery and enhance the agricultural productivity. During the post-green revolution period, the impact of farm mechanization on agricultural production and productivity has been well recognized in India. Depending upon the use of other inputs such as irrigation, high yielding seed varieties, chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, different states in India have attained different levels of mechanization. Consequently the agricultural production & productivity has witnessed three to four fold increases. Studies have been conducted by various organizations & individuals which have highlighted the impact of agricultural mechanization on farm production and productivity. Singh and Singh concluded that tractor farms gave higher yields of wheat, paddy and sugarcane and produced a higher overall gross output per hectare than non-tractor farms. NCAER compared the values of annual farm output per hectare of net sown area under different levels of mechanization. The output per hectare was found to increase as the level of mechanization increased from irrigated non - mechanized farms to tubewell, tractor-thresher farms.Singh and Chancellor found that though, tractor and tubewell farms had significantly higher yields than bullock farms in case of wheat, much of the differrence was accounted for by difference in other factors such as level of irrigation. The use of tubewell was found to be associated with significantly higher yields compared to the persian wheel irrigation. ITES, Madras found that tractor - owned farms obtained increased productivity of paddy, sugarcane and groundnut by 4.1 to 28.3 per cent, 13.1 to 34.2 per cent and 9.8 to 54.8 per cent with an average value of 15.8 per cent, 23.2 per cent and 31.8 per cent respectively. Likewise, the average increase of productivity on farms hiring tractors was reported to be 11.8 per cent, 13.0 per cent and 16.0 percent for paddy, sugarcane and groundnut respectively. Pathak et al. conducted survey on five different categories of farms in Ludhiana District of Punjab to assess the effect of power sources on production and productivity. The yield of paddy, maize and wheat was reported to be higher on tractor farms than on bullock farms. The yield of wheat after paddy or maize was significantly higher on tractor farms than bullock farms. The use of tractors enhanced agricultural productivity due to better seed-bed preparation, timeliness of operations and precision in distribution and placement of seed and fertilizer owing to the use of the seed-cum-fertilizer drills. NCAER conducted a survey of farms owning tractors, using tractors on custom-hire and owning bullocks in seven States belonging to three major agro climatic zones. A sample of 815 farming households was selected randomly from 85 villages. It was reported that an average tractor-owning farm obtained higher yields than a bullock farm, which varied from crop to crop and ranged from 72 per cent in the case of sorghum to 7 per cent in the case of cotton. Tractor users also obtained higher yields compared to bullock farms. Aggarwal analyzed data of a sample of 240 farms situated in the principal wheat growing areas of Punjab. The study revealed that the use of tractors instead of bullocks for ploughing and sowing did not add to the yield of high yielding varieties of wheat. It appeared that the advantage of timeliness of operation of a tractor was nominal, when the crop preceding to wheat could be harvested and threshed


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sufficiently in advance and the land could be released for timely wheat ploughing and sowing even on bullock farms. Unlike the neutral effect of the tractor use on wheat yield, the use of tubewells in comparison to canals was found to have a significant positive effect on the productivity. Nandal and Rai conducted a study by dividing Haryana in three homogenous zones on the basis of intensity of mechanization. In all, 54 farms were selected from each of the three zones making a total sample of 162 farming households. The impact of mechanization on crop yield was studied on three different categories of farms. It was apparent from the study that the tractoroperated farms had higher yield of wheat and paddy. In case of farms using tractors on custom - hire basis, the yield was comparatively low. The study revealed that tractor-owing farms invariably used higher level of agricultural inputs and had better control on timeliness of operations.

Balishter, Gupta and Singh conducted a study in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh on the basis of three levels of mechanization, i.e. (i) non-mechanized farms having neither tube-well nor tractor (ii) Partially mechanized farms having only tube-well, and (iii) Mechanized farms having both tube-well and tractor. The yield was reported to be higher by about 10 to 27 percent in mechanized farms and by about 2 to 26 per cent in partially mechanized farms in comparison with non-mechanized farms for all the major crops grown on the sample farms. In most of the studies, higher yields on mechanized farms were associated with higher levels of fertilizer and irrigation use The various input from different studies conducted across India gives us a brief what is mechanization and how vast is the area of discussion for mechanization. So for the thesis I would like to basically focus on the small farm machinery like power tillers for my study and how it has its impact on the Indian agriculture scenario and keeping in special focus on the area of southern Maharashtra.

FARM MECHANIZATION IN MAHARASHTRA


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Farm mechanization saves time and labor, cuts down crop production costs in the long run, reduces post-harvest losses and boosts crop output and farm income. Empirical evidence confirms that there is a strong correlation between farm mechanization and agricultural productivity. States with a greater availability of farm power show higher productivity as compared to others.

Level of Mechanization of Different Operations in Indian agriculture

Operation Percentage

Soil working and seed bed preparation 40Seeding and planting 29Plant protection 34Irrigation 37Harvesting and threshing 60-70 percent for wheat and rice and

<5percent for othersSource: Singh et al. State of Indian Agriculture Currently increasing the threat to natural resources, notably land and water, has further necessitated a switching over to machine assisted resource-conservation techniques such as zero-tillage, raised-bed planting, precision farming, drip or sprinkler irrigation, etc. Farm mechanization has now become more relevant in mitigating the effect of climate change by readjusting crop sowing schedules. For example, 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, which is possible only if the previous paddy crop is harvested mechanically and wheat is planted with zero-till seed drills that do not require ploughing the land. A greater degree of farm mechanization can also address the issues of scarcity of farm labor during peak agricultural seasons of sowing and harvesting with the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

UNDERSTANDING THE AREA UNDER STUDY

1. North Konkan Coastal Zone 2. South Konkan Coastal Zone3. Western Ghat Zone

Sr. No

Name of the Zone

Geographical spreadof the zone/Districtsand tahsils included

Climaticconditions

Averageannual rainfall

Soil type Crop and cropping pattern

1. Very high

Comprises of Thane &

Avg .daily temp 22

2607 mm in 87

Coarse & shallow.

Grains & Pulses :Rice


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rainfall zonewith non lateritic soils

Raigad districts. Totalarea 16.59 lakh. ha Netsown area 4.69 lakh. haWith forest zone about3%. 32% of land is underforest.

to 30C.Mini. temp17to 27 C. Humidity98%in rainy season& winter-60%

days. Maximumrain received inJuly i.e.41%

PH5.5to 6.5, acidicRich in nitrogen,poor inphosphorus &potash.

is major crop 40,600 lakh haVari 19,600 ha. Pulses-udid/ tur Vegetables brinjal,tomatoOilseeds-sesamum, nigerFruits-banana, chicoo

2. Very highrainfall zonewith lateritesoils

Comprises mainly ofRatnagiri andSindhudurg DistrictsTotal area of the zone is13.20 lakh ha. Areaunder cultivation 3.5lakh ha.

Daily temp. Above20 C. Throughoutthe year. Mayhottest above 33C. Rainfall due toS-W monsoonfrom June to Sept.

3105 mm in 101days

Laterite. PH5.5-6.5 acidic,poor inphosphorousrich in nitrogenand Potassium

Grains & Pulses: Rice is themajor crops i.e. 39% of cultivated area.Ragi 2nd imp crop 0.45 lakh. Ha. Vari isminor hill millet grown on the slopes,pulses like horsegram grown on residualmoisture. Oilseeds-Niger/ Sesamum,area under Summer Ground nut, Jowarand Tur is likely to increase


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withirrigation.Horticultural crops-Mango, Coconut,Arecanut, Cashewnut Jackfruit, Bananaand PineappleSpices like clove Nutmeg andBlackpepper

3. Western Ghat Zone/Ghat zone

It includes hilly highlying terrains ofkolahapur, satara,pune, ahmednagar &nasik districts &small area ofsindhudurg district.Altitude varies from1000- 1900mt

Maximumtemp. rangesfrom 29-39 C.Minimum tempranges from13-20 C.

3000 to 6000mm. Rainfallrecorded indifferentplaces of thezone vizIgatpuri,Lonawala,Mahabaleshwar, &Radhanagari.

'Warkas' i.e.light laterite& reddishbrown.Distinctlyacidic, poorfertility lowphosphorous& potashcontent.

Grains & Pulses: 25% area is underforest. Principal crops-rice/ragi/ kodra &other cereals. Rabi jowar, gram,groundnut, niger. Sugarcane majorcrop. Area under spices 353 ha. Fruits &vegetables 2933 ha. Well suitedconditions for rain fed crops.Fruits-


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mango, cashew, jackfruit, jamunand karwanda.

A detail study of the area and the profile of the area give a very clear picture about the cropping pattern of the area and the kind of agricultural practices adopted in the area. The profile of the area also gives you good and general idea of the kind of mechanization that can be undertaken and are preferred by the farmers. The study of the farmers and the farm mechanization gives you an idea regarding the kind of marketing techniques can be adopted for the area and the channels that can be used for the flow of the products.

LOW COST MECHANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

So far in our country, 'Tractor' has been the major driver for agriculture mechanization. Designers and manufacturers have been relying on tractor as a major source of farm power and thus we see that the majority of the commercially available farm implements are tractor driven. However, as we all know, Maharashtra agriculture is dominated by small and marginal farmers whose smaller landholding and weaker economic status render them ‘economically unviable' for single ownership of many of the high-value agricultural machinery and equipments especially tractors, harvester, combine etc.Therefore, we have to ‘relook’ and 'reengineer' farm mechanization so that we can effectively bring small and marginal farmers in the fold of mechanization. The future of farm mechanization in India lies in the success of design, development and easy availability of low-cost agricultural machineries and equipments that would not only suit the requirements of our diverse natural resources but also match the economic strength of the large and relatively low productive 'bottom of the pyramid' Indian Agriculture.

UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGES AND RIGHT TECHNOLOGY FOR THE SMALL FARMER What a small farmer needs? What Maharashtra has?Low cost power equipment (Power tillers, rotary tillers, reapers etc) cost less than Rs 75,000.(after availing subsidy)

High cost tractors (greater than Rs 1.4lakhs per acre) and total cost greaterthan Rs 4.5 lakhs.

Flexibility to use easily for rotavators ,water pumps, sprayers electricitygeneration etc with low cost attachments

Modern implements at unaffordablehigh costs

Powered self-propelled implements for No availability


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weeding, tilling etc.

NUMBER AND AREA OF LAND HOLDINGS IN MAHARASHTRA:

Farmers No. of Operational Land Holding (lakhs) %

Area (lakhs Ha) %

Marginal 53.06 43.71 26.49 13.18Small 36.06 29.71 51.27 25.5Semi-Medium 22.74 18.73 61.09 30.39Medium 8.65 7.13 48.8 24.27Large 0.87 0.72 13.38 6.66Total 121.38 201.03*Area fig in ‘00’ ha Source:- MIDC report

There are two ways through which we can achieve the desired result:-1. Adoption of low cost equipment2. Custom hiring

Sl no

Name of equipment

Used for Cost Cost of operation

Benefit

1 Self-propelled diesel rotary tillers.

Puddling in light andmedium soils

Rs 32,000/-(including engine)

Rs 113/ acre Field efficiency75% and laborrequirement 20man-h/2.4 acre

2 Low Land Manual RiceSeeder

For sowing of pre-germinatedpaddy in puddle fields

Rs 1200/- Rs 150/acre. 16% increase inyield compared toconventionalmethod

3 Power tiller Multi-purpose

Rs 11000/- to 145000/-

Rs.250/acre Field efficiency85%

4 Mini tiller Inter-culture operations

Rs.18000/- Field efficiency 75%

5 Brush cutters Cutting grass and harvesting crops

Rs. 18500/-

Field efficiency 70%.

For example let’s take into consideration two hypothesis models for the use of farm machineries on a regular basis against the use of tractors or any manual labor.

Model 1:- Small and Semi-medium Farmers


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A simple 13-15 HP Power tiller is an ideal range of Horse Power (HP) engine, which is best suited for the small and medium size Indian farms. The technology used is simple and rugged and doesn’t require much of the maintenance and even the spare parts are easily available. It is used for regular tillage operations for small land holdings. It can plough seed, de-weed, spray, irrigate, etc. with matching accessories

Model 2: Owning a Power tiller for self-usageComparison between conventional 35 HP tractor and 13-15 HP Power tiller is as below:-Sr no Specification 35 HP tractor

(conventional)13-15 HP Power tiller

1 Price 4-5 lakh 1.1-1.45 lakh2 Fuel consumption 3.5 ltr/hr 1 ltr/hr3 Maintenance cost Rs. 4250/month Rs. 1800/month4 Operations perform Ploughing, cultivator

operation, rotavator, harrowing, reaper application, threshing, Spraying of pesticides.

Ploughing, cultivator operation, rotavator, harrowing, reaper application, threshing, Spraying of pesticides.

MONTHLY EXPENSES OF 35 HP TRACTOR & 13-15 HP POWER TILLER

Sr no 35HP Tractor expenses

Rs 13-15 HP Power tiller expenses

Rs

1 Fuel @ 3.5ltr/hr @Rs 52/ltr * 160 hrs

29120 Fuel @ 1.3ltr/hr @ Rs 52/ltr *160 hrs

10816

2 Lubricants/repairs + maintenance & depreciation

3800 Lubricants/repairs + maintenance & depreciation

1800

3 Total expenses 32920 Total expenses 12616

Total annual expense of 13-15HP Power tiller (Rs.151392) is approximately 380% less as compare to the annual expense of 35HP Tractor (Rs. 395040). So we can say that Diesel Plough is the best suited low cost equipment for small and semi medium farmer.

Cost Benefit Analysis for 13-15 HP Power tiller when used on a rent basis:-

Cost of Power tiller = Rs. 110000-145000 (avg. price – 127500)

Revenues:8 hrs/day x 20 days/month @ Rs 180/hr (average) =Rs.28800/ month

Expenses: Fuel @ 1.3 liters/hour @ Rs.52/liter x 160 hrs. =Rs. 10816/ month --- (A) Lubricants/repairs +maintenance and depreciation = Rs 1800/month ---(B)


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Total Expenses (A +B) = Rs.12616/month Total Outflow = Rs.21616 /month Profit = Revenue- Outflow

= Rs.28800 / month-Rs. 12616/month =Rs.16184 /month/Power tillerProfit of a small and semi-medium farmer is Rs.16184/month/Power tiller.So a small or medium farmer can rent their power tiller to marginal farmers or who ever need it (even big farmers for their huge farms) and generate profit of approximately Rs.16000/month/power tiller.

A BRIEF STUDY OF THE AREA:

A study to measure the impact of mechanization on the irrigated farms of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra State. The study analyses the differences in cropping intensities of different farm size groups of four categories as given in Table. In Maharashtra, the duration of sugarcane crop varied from one to one and half years depending on the planting season. Thus, cropping intensity (I) and cropping intensity (II) was calculated considering sugarcane as a single crop and as equivalent to two crops, respectively. The cropping intensity on small sized TOF and TOF + BOF was significantly higher in comparison with the small sizes BOF and BOF+THF, when the cropping intensity pattern (I) was considered. But the differences in cropping intensity on medium and large sized farms were not significant among different categories of farms. The cropping intensity on all size groups of farms of TOF and TOF+BOF was also significantly higher in comparison with the BOF and BOF+THF when the cropping pattern (II) was considered. This was attributed to allocation of higher proportion of area for cultivation of longer duration sugarcane crop on tractor-owning farms.

AVERAGE FARM SIZE AND INTENSITY OF CROPPING ON DIFFERENT CATEGORIES ON FARMS

Farm Category

Net cultivated area per farm (ha)

Cropped area per farm (ha)

Cropping intensity (%)

Irrigated Area (%)

SMALL FARMS

I II I II

BOF 4.62 6 7.08 129.87 153.11 92.86BOF+THF 4.57 5.99 7.44 131.07 162.74 95.44TOF 5.05 7.59 9.59 150.4 190.04 92.93TOF+BOF 5.49 8.14 10.40 148.44 189.56 92.19MEDIUMBOF 7.51 9.97 11.29 127.46 150.44 89.4BOF+THF 7.24 9.27 10.95 128.09 151.28 88.42


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TOF 8.52 11.24 14.12 131.90 165.71 90.90TOF+BOF 8.79 11.41 14.25 129.89 162.21 89.53LARGEBOF 11.89 14.16 16.77 119.07 141.12 82.35BOF+THF 11.65 13.48 16.45 115.67 141.20 81.82TOF 13.3 16.16 20.08 121.54 150.97 89.98TOF+BOF 13.94 16.89 20.99 121.11 150.55 92.17OverallBOF 7.09 8.90 10.5 125.53 148.03 88.27BOF+THF 6.97 8.68 10.45 124.63 150.04 87.38TOF 9.74 12.48 15.66 128.15 160.35 90.83TOF+BOF 10.91 13.69 17.13 125.55 127.11 92.04BOF-Bullock operated farm, THF- Tractor hired farm, TOF- Tractor operated farm.I Cropping intensity calculated assuming sugarcane as one cropII Cropping intensity calculated assuming sugarcane as two crops

The need of the hour is to adopt a collaborative approach among industry players and the government to benchmark relevant technology and engineer indigenous and cost-effective solutions.

CLASSIFICATION OF FARM MECHANIZATION INDUSTRIES The classification of industries in India is based on total capital investment (plant and machinery) rather number of workers employed. These are

(i) village craftsmen, (ii) cottage industries, (iii) tiny industries, (iv) small scale industries, (v) medium scale industries and (vi) large scale industries. This classification was done to help the small-scale units through incentives and marketing support. The limit of investment is given in Table.

Table. Classification of industries in IndiaCategory Maximum capital investmentVillage artisans and cottage industries Unorganized in rural areasTiny industries Rs. 15 lakhsSmall scale industries Rs. 1 croreMedium scale industries Rs. 5 crores

VILLAGE CRAFTSMENVillage artisans are the main source of supply and repair and maintenance of hand tools and traditional implements are made by village craftsmen. These include implements and tools like khurpi, spade, sickle, local ploughs, bakhar, sowing


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devices, yokes, patela, leveller, oil ghanis, grinding wheels, hand mills, hand operated milk churning tools, winnowing devices, sieves, wooden storage structures, bullock carts, manual water lifting devices etc. If village artisans are properly trained they will accelerate the adoption of mechanization inputs due to their proximity with farmers.

TINY AND SMALL-SCALE INDUSTRIESThe tiny and small scale units fabricate bulk of improved agricultural machinery such as ploughs, cultivators, disc ploughs and harrows, seed drills, planters, plant protection equipment, reaper harvesters, combine harvesters, threshers, cleaners, graders, mills, crushers, oil expellers, diesel engines, irrigation pumps, dairy machinery etc. Agricultural machines are reserved for small-scale units. There are more than 18000 such units scattered all over the country but have concentration in selected regions some of these units also fabricate implements and equipment for tractor and power tiller manufacturers. They may lack good machine tools and heat treatment facilities. Some of them are more organized and have better fabrication tools and thus are able to manufacture better quality machinery. The bulk of the farm machinery is made by the small scale industries. They use materials from mild steel to medium carbon steel. Heat treatment practices are generally inadequate except in few industries manufacturing knife & tillage tools. Equipment manufactured by the SSI units includes Soil working tools, seeding & planting equipment, hand hoes, sprayers & dusters, harvesting & threshing equipment, like reapers, threshers, combines, maize shellers, decorticators, cleaners, graders, mills, oil expellers etc.

ORGANIZED FARM MACHINERY INDUSTRIES or MEDIUM SCALE INDUSTRY The medium scale and large scale industries manufacture diesel engines, electric motors, irrigation pumps, sprayers and dusters, land development machinery, tractors, power tillers, post harvest and processing machinery and dairy equipment. There are 13 tractor, 2 power tiller, 200 diesel engine, 600 irrigation pump, 48 combine and 188 earthmoving machinery manufacturers. The marketing of agricultural machinery by these industries is through their network of dealerships and, therefore, these manufacturers are able to provide effective after-sales service. These industries upgrade their product and process technologies through their own R&D efforts, in addition to technological support from external agencies. Today, India is recognized as a leading country in the world for the development and manufacture of agricultural implements and equipment. The range of equipment includes, tractors, harvesting and threshing equipment, plant protection machines, irrigation and drainage pumps, sprinkler systems, land development machinery, dairy and agro-processing equipment, etc. India is the exporting increasing volumes of these to various countries including USA, Africa, Asia, etc.


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STANDARDIZATION AND QUALITY

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with its network of centers and laboratories in the country is mandated to ensure quality manufacture and marketing of agricultural and industrial products in the country. The BIS formulates specifications of agricultural machinery and other appliances and prescribes test codes. The Bureau also issues ISI quality certificate marks to the products which meet technical specification as per BIS standards. The list of standards released by BIS is given in Table. The Government of India has established Farm Machinery Training & Testing Centres for promotion of quality farm machinery. In case of agricultural machinery, requirement of quality certification is limited to the sale of agricultural machinery financed under Government Schemes. On certain items connected with safety and health hazards, it is mandatory to have minimum safety standards built into the design or in the installation of machinery during operation. Threshers, chaff cutters, sugarcane crushers etc. fall under this category. The agricultural machines manufactured by the organized sector like tractors, earth moving machinery, irrigation equipment, plant protection, dairy equipment, processing machinery etc. are certified for their quality by BIS.

THE MAJOR PLAYERS IN SOUTHERN PART OF MAHARASHTRA FOR THE POWER TILLERS ARE:

VST TILLERS TRACTORS LTDVST Tillers Tractors Ltd (VST), which is the market leader in Power Tillers segment in India with about 45% market share, was incorporated in 1967 in Bangalore. It was promoted by a southIndian based business house VST Group, in technical collaboration and joint venture withMitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan for the manufacture of Power Tillers and Diesel Engines. In 1984, VST entered into an additional technical and financial collaboration with Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Company Ltd, Japan for the manufacture of 18.5 HP, four wheels drive Tractor. The main products of VST namely Power Tillers andTractors are used in the agricultural sector all over the India. Its Power Tillers and Tractors are exported to whole of Africa. Its Tractors are also exported to Middle East, Russia and Turkey, while the component parts are exported to Europe, Korea and Thailand.The Company has a nation-wide network of about 160 dealers supported by Sales and Service.This is supported by supply of spare parts, provision of service tools and equipments, making available service information through technical literature, instruction manuals etc., and imparting training to dealers’ personnel as well as end users namely the farmers, are some of the effective steps taken by the Company towards customer satisfaction.


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Its manufacturing plant is located in Whitefield industrial area near Bangalore. It has 75,000Sq. meters of land and a built up area of 15,000 Sq. meters (approx). The company has a combined manufacturing capacity of 36,000 power tillers & tractors. VST has in-house design and development section for upgrading level of technology in line with current requirements.It also upgrades existing products and develops new products as per market demand from time to time. It has ISO-9001 certification for Quality Management System since January 1998 and it follows ISO 9001-2008 Quality System requirements to satisfy all customer needs.

ACUTE SHORTAGE OF FARM LABOR & GOVT. SUBSIDY DRIVE DEMAND OF FARM EQUIPMENTWith annual agriculture growth target of 4% for the 12th plan (2012-17), the government has increased its emphasis on farm mechanization to enhance food production. The demand of farm equipment such as Power Tiller, Tractors, Combine Harvesters, Rice transplanters, etc has been robust in the recent years, mainly due to increase in income level of farmers as minimum support price (MSP) for their crops has been enhanced constantly by the government. Additionally, the acute shortage of labor resources and continued subsidy scheme by government to encourage farmers to buy farm equipment in order to improve productivity has further increased the farm equipment’s demand. The central government provides a subsidy of Rs. 45,000 for Power Tillers, while some governments such as Karnataka & Orissa give subsidy in the range of Rs. 50-60 thousand. Going forward, with acute shortage of farm labor and consistent government support in the form of subsidy along with bank loan availability at subsidized rate due to government’s focus on priority sector lending, we believe the demand for farm equipment (especially Power Tillers & sub 20 HP Tractors) is expected to be robust over the next few years.

MARKET LEADER IN FAST GROWING POWER TILLER SEGMENTVST is the largest manufacturer of Power Tillers in India with about 45% market share. It has delivered a strong CAGR of 27% in Power Tillers sales during last 5 years (FY06-11). During FY11, VST sold 23,449 Power Tillers for Rs. 2,620 mn as against 19,068 Power Tillers sold for Rs. 2,120 mn during FY10, registering a 23% growth in volume term and 23.6% growth in sales value. The annual market size of Power Tillers is about 53,000 and it is growing at very healthy rate of about 20%, mainly due to fast mechanization of agricultural industry. VST, being the market leader with its nation-wide strong network of 160 dealers supported by Sales and Services network, is expected to grow its Power Tiller Revenues by 20-25% over the next 2-3 years.

EXPANDING TRACTOR MANUFACTURING CAPACITY TO MATCH DEMANDThe manufacturing plant of the company is located in Bangalore and currently has a combined manufacturing capacity of 36,000 Power Tillers & Tractors (on a double


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shift basis). With continued strong demand for VST’s Tractors, the company is expanding its Tractor manufacturing capacity by shifting its Tractor production to Hosur, Tamilnadu, Where it has already purchased land and has started the construction of facility, which is expected to be completed by May-June 2012. VST will have manufacturing capacity of 12,000 Tractors (in single shift) from Hosur and the current plant in Bangalore would entirely be available for Power Tillers. The cap-ex for this new plant would be about Rs. 1 bn and VST has already spent Rs. 250 mn during FY11. Post the completion of its current expansion, VST will be having capacity to produce 36,000 Power Tillers & 24,000 Tractors per annum (on a double shift basis). VST, being a leading player in sub 20 HP tractors segment, is expected to grow its Tractors Revenues at a +25% CAGR over the next 2-3 years.

GREAVES POWER TILLERS: Greaves Cotton Limited, established in 1859, is one of India's leading and well-diversified engineering companies. It manufactures a wide range of industrial products to meet the requirement of core sectors in India and abroad. The Company's core competencies are in Diesel / Petrol Engines, Gensets, Pumpsets and Construction Equipment. The business operations of the Company are divided into various businesses strategically structured to ensure maximum focus on each business area and yet retain a unique synergy in the operations:

The businesses are:

Farm Equipments Automotive engines Auxillary Powers Industrial Engines Construction Equipments

In the recent years, Greaves has made rapid strides towards globalisation. The Company exports several of its products to various countries. Greaves has 11 Manufacturing Units located all over India, two overseas offices in U.K. and China and one subsidiary company in Germany. The Company's manufacturing plants are equipped with state-of-the-art production facilities, backed by in house R&D.

The company also manufactures lightweight petrol, diesel and kerosene engines in the 1-4 HP range and portable eco-friendly silent Gensets in the 1.4 KVA range in Chennai. These engines are used for agriculture applications such as power sprayer, pumpsets and power reapers. Greaves has launched the Greaves Power Tiller, used in the agriculture sector. These tillers are manufactured in China and customised to suit Indian

Greaves has an after-market support infrastructure with a countrywide network of over 1,200 dealers. The company produces diesel and petrol engines, gensets and construction equipment. Mr J.J. Chandra, Chairman and Managing Director, Atul Auto, said with emerging categories in the auto segment, the company believes that


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new vehicle platforms could be developed faster and more efficiently with a trusted partner. Greaves Automotive Engines has a wide portfolio in automotive engines and in single cylinder engines with a production of over 4.5 lakh engines annually. These eco-friendly light diesel engines are supplied to major automotive players such as Piaggio, M&M, Tata Motors, Scooters India among others. The automotive diesel engines are also available for adaptation on CNG/LPG usage

VIJAY POWER TILLERS:

Vijay Power Tillers comes from the family of Vijay Engineering and Machinery Company. The company is operating from Kolhapur. They started as one of the oldest and reputed dealers for Kirloskar Pumps, Motors and Engines. The company was established in 1948 in Mumbai and started its operation in Kolhapur from the year 1953 as the dealers for Kirloskar. The company was started by the Shah Brothers and has slowly grown over the years as a brand to be recognized in the Southern part of Maharashtra. Currently headed by Mr.Satyen Shah the company ventured into the business of agri-machinery in the early 2000 and now has a range of products that meets the need of the farmers starting from the point of sowing the seeds, doing the intercultural activities and the harvesting of the crop. The company has successfully established the brand of Vijay Power tillers in the mind of the customers through continuous promotional activities. What has clicked their way as Mr. Satyen Shah says is “the way they executed one of the major govt. program where they distributed almost 7000 power tillers all across Maharashtra under a scheme of the Social Justice Dept, but also regrets that he has somehow not delivered in the retail front of the business in a big way.”

The Company and its brand of products are very well known in the region of Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Solapur, Sangli. The company is now aggressively pushing themselves in the market with adding more products to their portfolio and plans to bring in more products by the year end of 2013. Currently the company is also importing power tillers and other farm machineries from China just like Greaves and are assembling it at their assembling plant in Kolhapur. The reason for importing it from China is to be provide machines at a competitive price to the farmers.When asked regarding the quality of the machines Mr. Shah assured that the engine vendors were selected after a thorough study of their engines and their existing clients and the history of their performance. Till now they have not received any complaints regarding the malfunctioning of the machines or any major complaints of the power tillers they have sold.


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QUESTIONNAIRE FOR INTERACTION WITH THE FARMERS:

1. What is farm mechanization means to them?2. Have they adopted mechanization of any type? If yes what type?3. How much are they aware of the types of machines available for farm

mechanization?4. What are the brands of tractors/power tillers they are aware about?5. Have you used any one of them?6. Are they aware about the nearest dealers for any of the brand of power

tillers?7. How can you purchase a power tiller and under what schemes you can get

one for yourself? 8. What are the uses of a power tillers and count the no of functions you can?

FINDINGS OF THE RESPONSE FROM THE RESPONDENTS:

Sr no. Farm mechanization means No of respondents1 Tractors 802 Power tillers 613 Pumps & engines 804 Irrigation equipment (drip/sprinkler) 85 Insecticide Spraying devices 266 Any improved tools for manual use 3

Total 250

80; 32%

61; 24%

72; 29%

8; 3%

26;

10%

3; 1%

TractorsPower tillersPumps & enginesIrrigation equipment (drip/sprinkler)Insecticide Spraying devices Any improved tools for manual use

The questionnaire was filled up after a brief interaction with the farmer and the following thing came to the picture. The results were interesting as it gave a good picture of what actually the farmer thinks about farm mechanization. As expected a lot of people directly visualized a tractor as the most important machinery to adopt farm mechanization and followed by the power tiller. A tractor is the most important


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machine for mechanization was the opinion of both the owner and those farmers who hire it for the different work at their farm. Power tillers came second in the list and it came mostly from the users of the machine. It was also interesting to find that people also consider the use of pump and diesel engines for irrigation or lifting water from the river or bore wells as an important part of mechanization in this part of area. The use of modern irrigation equipments like the drip system and the sprinkler also were considered as part of farm mechanization. Similarly around 12% of the respondent answered and gave their view on behalf sprayers and other improved manually used tools as a part of farm mechanization.

THE PURCHASE DECISION:

Sr no. How Purchase takes place No of respondents1 Exhibition 332 Demonstration 923 Reference by relative/friend 54 Previous use 125 Newspaper advertisement 76 Advertisement on TV/radio 57 Reference by dealer/govt official 96

Total 250

33; 13%

92; 37%

5; 2%12; 5%7; 3%

5; 2%

96; 38%

1 Exhibition

2 Demonstration

3 Reference by relative/friend

4 Previous use

5 Newspaper advertisement

6 Advertisement on TV/radio

7 Reference by dealer/govt of-ficial

When asked the respondent regarding what is the most preferred way they think which convinces them to take a decision for purchase of the machinery. A major part of the respondent said it is the Dealer or the govt official (who is in the process of approving the subsidy) who convince them to go for the purchase of the machinery. The second major part that the respondents replied is the method of demonstration. When they see the demonstration of the machine at some place or ask the dealer to conduct it at their place is a major function which


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convinces the farmer to go for the purchase of the machine after a thorough look at the functioning of the machine. The different exhibitions and the offers given on the spot also help in pushing the machines as it leads to impulsive buying for some. The farmers grab these offers and make a purchase of the machinery then and there. The conditions like previous use, advertisement on newspaper, radio though generate a lot of inquiry but don’t actually end up as business for the companies and this has been the least effective in the way a purchase decision is made for the machineries.

THE CHANNEL OF FLOW

The agri machinery market is a very subsidy sensitive market as the farmers opt for machines that are listed in the subsidy list. The products like power tillers, pumps, manually used tools, sprayers etc are all listed in the subsidy list. The products that are present in the list are sold easily by the dealers or agents. The process of purchase of the machinery is a very lengthy process where in the customer has go through the following steps:

1. Inquiry of the machine and its availability under the subsidy scheme.2. Get quotation of the machine3. Deposit the quotation at the zilla panchayat office along with the approval

from the panchayat office.4. Deposit the approved quotation at the MAIDC office and get the order letter. 5. The material is dispatched from the dealer’s place for the customer.

In this entire series of events it is only the point when the customer comes and inquires for the machine at the dealers place. The dealer has all the liberty and time to convince the customer at this point of time. This is when a dealer can crack the deal or loose the customer. SALES OF POWER TILLER IN SOUTHERN MAHARASHTRA REGION

Year VST GREAVES VIJAY Others2008-09 612 215 209 742009-10 711 298 311 892010-11 746 341 398 1022011-12 807 311 479 121Total 2876 1165 1397 386Sales data MAIDC Kolhapur, Thane, Satara.


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2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-120

100200300400500600700800900

vstgreavesvijayothers

The above diagram shows sale of the three major brands of power tiller in the southern Maharashtra region for the last four years. The sales of VST power tillers are maximum as it is one of the most established and oldest brands among the power tiller currently in sale in India. Greaves which is also a reputed brand in India has slowly slipped a bit in the sale in the last four years and it is because of the Vijay Brand and the other brands. For many farmers in Kolhapur and the adjacent district Vijay is a known brand and since the company is locally established in Kolhapur it becomes easier for them to get their complaints registered at their office and get the spares at a very cheap price. The price of other power tiller are also low compared to the other three so it can be said that the they are slowly making their presence felt or one can say that they are eating away at the market share of the existing.

INTERACTION WITH THE FACE OF THE COMPANY I.E. DEALERS

Most of the companies have a similar kind of supply chain for their machineries. The supply chain is as follows:

Company/ Head office → Regional office → Stockist/Distributor → Dealer →Authorized service centers → Spares Dealers.

All the company who are into the manufacturing or importing of agri-machineries follows similar kind of models. The company is headed by the management that looks into all the aspects of the company starting from manufacturing, to importing, to distribution and maintaining the channel. The management divides the area of functioning into different regions as the requirement for machinery is very regional and specific because of the changing agricultural practices and the soil conditions. The regional office looks and manages the stockist or the distributor for a given area. The stockist manages ample quantity of the machineries at his end so that a smooth supply of machineries can be taken care of at all time when the dealers ask for. The concepts of authorized service stations are slowly picking up now for the agri machinery industry as the machineries have gone to different interior places of Maharashtra. The places where the machines have been delivered all along these years is also difficult for the dealers to send their personals for servicing of the


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machines. The companies are slowly looking at the option for utilizing the local mechanics by imparting training to them and certifying them as the authorized service stations. Spares dealers are also coming up at almost all taluka places in the districts as it is necessary for providing seamless services to the customers at these interior places. The other side of the story is that the companies generate a good amount of revenue from selling the spare and providing service facility through this channel. Interacting with a dealer who also has a service station facility at his end shares “spares and servicing add to additional business for them when the sales of machineries are a bit low during the off season.

Dealers name Brand Machinery sales Spares sale ServicingBoman Enterprises VST 2437500 609375 487500Shrusti Agro Greaves 320000 80000 64000Surya putra Tractors Vijay 612500 153125 122500

Sales data for the year 2011 from the dealers.

Interacting with these major dealers for their respective brands of agri machinery in their respective area gave a good picture that the sales from spares and providing servicing facility add to the revenue of the dealers by a handsome amount. A lot of things have been cleared after the interaction with the farmers and the channel persons who are involved in the process of selling of the agri-machinery for mechanization. The interaction with the farmers led me to know that when companies in the sector of agri-machinery business can go for different activities. For ex. A farmer gets the money after the harvest of Sugarcane in this region during Nov-Dec or paddy in Dec- Jan so that is the point when the farmers actually have cash at their disposal and actually plan to make purchases of different machineries.


Machinery sales Spares sale Servicing0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

VST GreavesVijay

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ACTIVITY CALENDER FOR COMPANIES

So for any company that plans to go for any activity such as demonstration, exhibition and promotional activity of the machines would be as follows:

Type of activity Season and crop Period of the year

Area Types of machine

Demonstration Pre-khariff for Paddy

May -June All Konkan Power tillers

Demonstration Pre-ravi for paddy harvesting

Oct- Nov All Konkan Reapers & Power tillers

Exhibition Winter for sugarcane

Dec-Feb All Southern Maharashtra

All machines

It can be concluded that for all kind of activity pertaining to purchase of machinery can be directed during these periods to have more business during these period of time.

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY MARKETING AND AFTER SALE- SERVICES

The large and medium scale manufacturers have well organized distributors and dealers throughout the country to undertake advertising and product promotion in their respective territories, conduct product awareness training programs for the prospective customers, provide after-sales-service to the customers including free services, repair and maintenance, supply of parts, etc. Therefore, this organized sector has the whole of the country as their market due to which their production volumes are large, and their information feedback about their product performance, improvements required in design, production processing or quality, and the new requirements of the farmers to undertake product developments. Very few small-scale industries have established their marketing network and therefore provide service support in their premises. In the absence of standardization of parts and components farmers are compelled to carry their machines to the manufactures for repair and replacement of parts and components. Due to this, their market size is limited to their proximity, and they are not able to develop their businesses. The village artisans on the other hand are located in the villages and therefore provide immediate attention to the needs of the farmers in their immediate neighborhoods. Therefore, the tools and implements, etc. made by them are against specific requirements of individual customers.

CREDIT AND FINANCIAL INCENTIVES

The purchasing power of the farmers is low. The government provides subsidy and credit at reduced rate to the farmers who are economically and socially at disadvantageous position to adopt modern technologies the long-term credit are usually availed for the purchase of mechanization inputs and short term for the


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purchase of seed, fertilizer etc. This is one of the indicators of progressive attitude of farmers. The agricultural machines and tractors are purchased through credit, available from organized financial institutions. NABARD is the main refinancing institution. The Government also provides incentives to farmers for modernization of agriculture. This is linked to crop specific programmes operated by state governments. Some of the states could not avail the advantages in the absence of adequate infrastructure for promotion of agricultural engineering programmes. The state government may have to strengthen their extension machinery for providing incentives to the farmers. Draft Agricultural Policy resolution emphasized special consideration for input support to poor farmers with fragmented land holdings and those in eastern, hilly regions, rainfed and drought prone areas. The financial requirement for the purchase of agricultural machinery has increased considerably. The commercial and Cooperative Banks provide credit for the purchase of machinery. The total long-term institutional credit provided to agriculture sector which is usually for non-recurring expenditure during 1998- 99 was Rs.132080 million. Of this, Rs.43920 million was provided from Cooperative Banks and Rs.88160 million from Commercial Banks. 1998-99. The medium and long-term loans are usually disbursed for the purchase of machinery. To simplify the credit and other financial incentives “Farmers Agri-Credit Card” facility is being introduced in few states to facilitate easy availability of credit including fiscal incentives. An estimated Rs 119580 million is required based on 1997- 98 prices for the purchase of major farm machinery. This estimate does not include budgetary requirement for sprinkler and drip and processing machinery. Farmers prefer to invest their own money for the purchase of hand tools and bullock drawn machinery and for others they avail the credits from the Banks.

CONSTRAINTS IN MECHANIZATION

It is true that farm mechanization has shown good results as of raising the agricultural production and improving the standard of living of cultivators within very short period. But a number of arguments have been advanced against farm mechanization such as:

Small size and scattered holdings of the farmers stand in the way of mechanization. As a result of this, farm machinery generally remains underutilized.

Majority of small cultivators are poor who are not in a position to purchase the costly machinery like tractors, combine harvesters etc.

The use of tractor operated machinery may render some of the draft cattle population surplus. Studies under AICRP on Energy Requirement indicate that tractor owning farms do use draft animals for certain jobs. Like-wise farms using animate sources of farm power, use tractor on custom service for certain jobs.

The farm machinery have large turning radius and thus require comparatively larger farm for economical use. Mechanization may lead to structural change


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in agriculture in respect of the occupational distribution in the rural economy. No doubt, the increasing farm mechanization is going to increase employment in secondary and tertiary sectors but it does displace labour in farm operations.

Lack of proper knowledge of farmer to purchase farm machinery, operate and maintain it properly leads to wrong choice, makes it uneconomical and risky too.

There is great shortage of diesel in the country as a whole. Thus, to use so extensive oil based farm machinery is not desirable.

The lack of repair and replacement facilities especially in the remote rural areas is another hindrance in efficient small farm mechanization.

Due to the seasonal nature of the agriculture, the farm machinery remains idle for much of the time. Thus, idle machinery means unnecessary high costs unless proper alternate use of such machinery in the off-season is made.

The chief bottlenecks of farm mechanization can be cited under following three heads:

A. Research development and testing of farm machinery and equipment, particularly suitable to small farms, dry farming, for operations such as paddy transplanting, sugarcane and fodder harvesting, spraying tall plants such as fruit and forest trees, cotton, sugarcane etc., sugarcane planter, cotton picking and so on.B. Manufacture, standardization and quality control: Poor quality and lack of matching and standard designs of equipment and acute shortage of testing facilities.C. Education, training and Popularization of farm equipment: Inadequate training facilities for farmer-users and artisans, inadequate service centers and lack of regulations on custom hiring services.

FUTURE THRUSTS IN AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION

India is a large country with wide-agro ecological diversity having predominance of rainfed agriculture, with irrigated agriculture limited to 34% only. Farm holdings are small due to higher population density and land fragmentation will continue due to ‘Laws of Inheritance’ and ‘Hindu Succession Act’. Majority of the farmers have limited surplus money to modernize farms or to invest in improved inputs. Draught animals and increasing agricultural workers population may remain to be the major source of farm power for soil manipulation and for crop handling, particularly in Hill and Mountain regions. Mechanical power for tillage, irrigation, harvesting and threshing will be preferred, including on custom hiring basis. As a result of GATT agreement, prospects of agro-export are likely to increase and product quality standards stipulated under WTO would encourage more and more farmers to adopt modern agricultural production technologies. The future agricultural mechanization technology package therefore may have to;• be eco-friendly utilizing land water and bio-resource catering to the varied group of farm holders,


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• facilitate farming operations which are arduous and hazardous,• increase productivity and conserve resources through effective utilization of chemical, biological and mechanical inputs, and• modernize commercial agriculture to facilitate agro-export.

Keeping above objectives, the mechanization policy may have to be distinctly different to serve hill agriculture, low lying water logged soils, rain-fed and irrigated lands and regions having agro export potential.

POPULARIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY The assimilation of R & D requires an effective technological infrastructure of institutions and services to develop and test prototypes, to set up pilot plants for intensive evaluation and extensive demonstrations besides, training and credit support. New technology also requires network for transfer of technology to the manufactures. Popularization of agricultural machinery in the country is undertaken by the Provincial Governments through Department of Agriculture or Department of Agricultural Engineering. The activities are coordinated by the Department of Agriculture in Cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. The Ministry of Food Processing promotes technology related to agro-processing. The extension system deals with the first-line extension projects with a view to:(i) demonstrating the latest technologies to the farmers as well as the

extension agencies;(ii) testing and verifying the technologies on the farmers field (iii) providing opportunities to get firsthand scientific feed-back; (iv) developing extension or technological models for the state extension

systems; (v) providing training and communication support; and (vi) promoting research in transfer of technologies


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CONCLUSION

The study of the farm machinery sector and the industry gave me a deep insight of the business and the constraints that is faced by the people in the business as the target audience is a person who has a limited purchasing power but high demands. The demand is a change driven mechanism with the pressure of cutting down the cost of production, and gaining more from the same piece of land. The constraint here is the time and the shortage of labor to work in the field. So the farmer is left with only one option but to adopt farm mechanization at his end so that he can cut down on few of the constraints and maximize his return from the machines and the piece of land. A common finding that emerged from various studies was that farm mechanization displaced mainly bullock labour up to about 60% in some situations, but its impact on man-power was much less, the displacement being less than 15%. The studies concluded that owing to this relatively low displacement of man power that was unavoidable, mechanization should not be viewed in isolation. Indeed, mechanization opened up new avenues for human employment such as managerial and supervisory jobs on the one hand and driving, servicing, maintenance and repair of the machines on the other.Therefore, recommended selective mechanization in an increasing manner for farms between 5-20 ha groups, which constituted 40% of the area under cultivation, and near total mechanization in operational holdings greater than 20 ha., which accounted for 13% of the cultivated area. NCA supported the view that animal, mechanical and electric power work complemented each other. NCA advocated farm mechanization for time bound operations like sowing, planting especially in rain-fed areas where the operations were required to be completed in a short span of time while the rain occurred and for harvesting and threshing, as well as for non-repetitive works such as land reclamation, leveling, terracing, eradication of wild-shrubs & perennial weeds like kans, (Saccharum spontaneum), as well as for command area development works. Studies were also conducted by several other organizations & individuals on the impact of farm mechanization on agricultural inputs & outputs.

Almost all such studies led to the following broad conclusions. That farm mechanization led to increase in inputs on account of higher

average cropping intensity and larger area and increased productivity of farm labour.

That farm mechanization increased agricultural production and profitability on account of timeliness of operation, better quality of work done and more efficient utilization of inputs.

That farm mechanization increases on- farm human labour marginally, whereas the increase in off- farm labour such as industrial production of tractors and ancillaries was much more.

That farm mechanization displaced animal power to the extent of 50 to 100% but resulted in lesser time for farm work.


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Coming to the companies in discussion with the increasing difficulty in finding labor for the farm work and different activities related to agriculture getting tougher and tougher, there is a very good future for the machinery companies and there is a very good scope of growth if they can actually tap the little tapped interior areas of Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri.


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Biblography:

1. Table 1- Region wise and yearly tractor sale data Source: ICAR New Delhi.2. Table 2 Source: Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE), India3. Table 3 Source: Singh et al. State of Indian Agriculture4. Table. Classification of industries in India5. Understanding the area table Source MaharashtraGov.in6. Land holding data Source:- MIDC report7. VST Data- www.vst.in8. Greaves Data- www.greaves.com 9. Vijay data- www.vemc.in 10. Sales data MIDC Kolhapur, Thane, Satara.11. Sales data for year 2011 from company dealers.


7 thesis final

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