Agricultural Equipment Banking
Average operational land holding size in the country is estimated at 1.16 ha. About 80% of the land holdings are operated by small and marginal farmers owning <1 and 1-2 ha holdings, respectively. These farmers cannot invest in costly farm machinery and depend on hiring of implements to carryout agricultural operations in their fields. In rainfed areas, the window for taking up of timely land preparation, sowing and inter-culture operations is narrow especially in the low rainfall zones. Failing to exploit this limited window often leads to a compromise on productivity and efficiency in crop production. In high rainfall areas dominated by heavy soils, drainage is more crucial to prevent damage to crop from excess soil moisture in the root zone especially in pulses, oilseeds and cotton.
Labour shortage at peak times of demand is a serious problem faced by farmers. Adoption of climate resilient practices such as soil incorporation of legume catch crops and crop residues to improve soil health and resource conservation technologies are linked to timely access to appropriate farm machinery at reasonable cost. Several options are now available to increase the efficiency and timeliness of agricultural operations even on small farms by using farm machinery. There is a strong need for taking farm mechanization. However, the farm power distribution is quite uneven across the States, wherein the highest use of mechanical power is in the order of 3.5 kw/ha in Punjab and less than 1kw/ha in States like Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand etc.
Mechanical power is largely consumed in big land holdings and is still beyond the reach of small/marginal holdings which constitute around 80% of the total land holdings. This is due to the fact that the small/marginal farmers, by virtue of their economic condition are unable to own farm machinery on their own or through institutional credit. Therefore in order to bring farm machinery available within the reach of small/marginal holdings, collective ownership or Tool banking needs to be promoted.
Objectives :
- To make available various farm machinery / equipments to small and marginal farmers
- To offset the adverse economies of scale due to high cost of individual ownership
- To improve mechanization in places with low farm power availability
- To provide hiring services for various agricultural machinery/implements applied for different operations.
- To expand mechanized activities during cropping seasons in large areas especially in small and marginal holdings.
- To provide hiring services for various high value crop specific machines applied for different operations.
