FARM POWER SOURCES, THEIR AVAILABILITY AND FUTURE REQUIREMENTS TO SUSTAIN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Farm Power Sources, their Availability and Future Requirements to Sustain Agricultural Production
N.S.L. Srivastava Asstt. Director General (Agril. Engg.) Retd., Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi ABSTRACT Farm Power is an essential input in agriculture for timely field operations for operating different types of farm equipment and for stationary jobs like operating irrigation equipment, threshers/ shellers/ cleaners/ graders and other post harvest equipment. During last 50 years the average farm power availability in India has increased from about 0.25 kW/ha in 1951 to about 1.35 kW/ha in 2001. Over the years the shift has been towards the use of mechanical and electrical sources of power, While in 1951 about 97.4% farm power was coming from animate sources, in 2001 the contribution of animate sources of power reduced to about 18% and that of mechanical and electrical sources of power increased from 2.6% in 1951 to about 82% in 2001. While the farm power availability of Punjab in 2001 has reached to over 3.5 kW/ ha it is still less than 0.90 kW/ha in many states like Orissa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The power productivity relationship shows that those states having higher farm power availability/ha have higher productivity. The state of Punjab which is highly mechanized state uses about 30% electrical power and about 48% diesel engine power. It is visualized that the additional requirement of food grains in future will be met, to a great extent, from Indo-Gangetic plains where the demand of tractors, power tillers and other machinery will continue to increase in future also. For increasing productivity of dryland agriculture which constitute about 66% of the cultivated area in India, timeliness in farm operations is essential especially for seedbed preparation and sowing operations for establishing good crop stand in deficient/ receding soil moisture content. In these areas also the demand of tractors/ power tillers, seed drills/planters and other farm machinery on custom service will increase in future. Those states where farm power availability is less than 0.90 kW/ha will continue to use animate sources of power for quite some time towards a shift to mechanical and electrical sources of power. States in NEH Region, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh because of their hilly terrain will continue to use animate sources of power for a long time. Seeing the present trend and considering the future demand of additional power sources, it is visualized that by 2020 the average farm power need in India will be about 2 kW/ha of which the share of animate source will be only about 5% and that of mechanical and electrical power will be about 70% and 25% respectively. Accordingly in future the demand of tractors, power tillers, stationary diesel engines, electric motors, self propelled combines, power sprayers etc. have been estimated and given in this paper.

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1. INTRODUCTION Power is needed on the farm for operating different tools, implements and during various farm operations. While mobile power is used for doing different field jobs, the stationary power is used for lifting water and operating irrigation equipment; operating threshers, shellers/decorticators, cleaners, graders and for other post harvest operations. The mobile farm power comes from human, draught animals, power tillers, tractors and self propelled machines, where as the stationary power is obtained from oil engines (diesel, petrol, kerosene) and electric motors. Availability of adequate farm power is very crucial for timely farm operations for increasing production and productivity and handling the crop produce to reduce losses. With the increase in intensity of cropping the turn around time is drastically reduced and it is not possible to harvest and thresh the standing crop, on one hand, and prepare seed bed and do timely sowing operations of subsequent crop, on the other hand, in the limited time available, unless adequate farm power is available. Similarly for precision farming, increasing area under irrigation, conservation tillage, straw management and diversification in agriculture, more power is required for water lifting and precision placement/application of agricultural inputsseed, fertilizer, irrigation water, plant protection chemicals etc and meeting the requirements of diversified agriculture. There has been close nexus between farm power availability and increased productivity. Those states where availability of farm power is more have, in general, higher productivity as compared to others as shown in Table 1. The variations in the trend of productivity in few states are because of the variations

Table 1. Farm Power Availability and Average Productivity of Food grains in India in 2001
Sl. No. Name of the State Farm Power Availability (kW/ha) 3.50 2.25 1.75 1.60 1.60 1.25 0.90 0.90 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.70 0.70 0.65 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 1.35 Food grain productivity (Kg/ha) 4032 3088 2105 1995 1712 2217 2262 1406 2162 1443 1622 1169 907 1500 757 884 1095 1050 799 799 1723

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Punjab Haryana Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Uttaranchal West Bengal Tamil Nadu Karnataka Kerala Assam Bihar Gujarat Madhya Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Maharashtra Rajasthan Jharkhand Jammu & Kashmir Orissa Chhattisgarh All India

in crops grown and the rainfall pattern in those states. The trend of average farm power availability and food grain production in India is shown in Figure 1. 2. SOURCES OF FARM POWER The different sources of power available on the farm for doing various mobile and stationary operations are as under: Mobile Power 1. Human (men, women, children) 2. Draught animals (bullocks, buffaloes, camels, horses and ponies, mules and donkeys) 3. Tractors 4. Power tillers 5. Self propelled machines (combines, dozers, reapers, sprayers etc.) Stationary Power 1. Diesel/oil engines (for pump sets, threshers, sprayers and other stationary operations) 2. Electric motors (for pump sets, threshers, sprayers and other stationary operations) 2.1 Human Power The average power availability, in sustained working, from a male agricultural worker is considered as 60 watts (0.06 kW) while for a female worker it is considered as 48 watts (0.048 kW) and for child worker as 30 watts

Farm Power Availability and Average Yield of Food Grain in India

3.5 Fa rm Po w er A v aila b ility , kW /h a 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0.522 0.25 1951 0.71 0.31 1961 0.872 0.36 1971 1.023 0.63 1.38 0.92 3.5 2.5 2 1.723 1.5 1.35 1 0.5 0 1981 1991 2001 A ve ra g e Y ie ld of fo o d G ra ins , t /h a 3

Year
Farm Pow er Availability, kW/ha Average Yield of Food Grain , T/ha

Fig.1. Farm Power availability and average yield of Food Grains in India in 2001.

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Table 2. Time Series Population of Agricultural Workers

(in millions) Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Type of worker Total Population (Annual growth rate%) Rural Population (% of total population) Cultivators (% of total workers) Agricultural Labourers (% of total workers) Agricultural Workers (3+4) (% of Total Workers) Other Workers (% of Total Workers) Total Main Workers(5+6) (% of Total Workers) 1951 361.1 (1.25) 298.6 (82.7) 69.9 (49.9) 27.3 (19.5) 97.2 (69.4) 42.8 (30.6) 140.0 (100.0) 1961 439.2 (1.96) 360.3 (82.0) 99.6 (52.8) 31.5 (16.7) 131.1\ (69.5) 57.6 (30.5) 188.4 (100.0) 1971 548.9 (2.22) 439.0 (80.1) 78.2 (43.4) 47.5 (26.3) 125.7 (69.8) 54.7 (30.) 180.4 (100.0) 1981 685.2 (2.20) 523.9 (76.7) 92.5 (37.8) 55.5 (22.7) 148.0 (60.5) 96.6 (39.5) 244.6 (100.0) 1991 846.3 (2.14) 628.7 (74.3) 110.7 (35.2) 74.6 (23.8) 185.3 (59.0) 128.8 (41.0) 314.1 (100.0) 2001 1027.0 (1.93) 741.7 (72.22) 127.6 (31.7) 107.5 (26.7) 235.1 (58.4) 167.4 (41.6) 402.5 (100.0)

Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, 2002.

(0.030 kW), which are 80% and 50% respectively, compared to male worker. The time series population of agricultural workers during the period 1951 to 2001 is given in Table 2. While the population of agricultural workers as percentage of rural population has gone down from about 69.4% in 1951 to about 58.4% in 2001 but in absolute terms, due to increase in overall population, the number of agricultural workers available in rural areas has increased from about 97.2 million numbers in 1951 to about 235.1 million numbers in 2001. These agricultural workers are engaged in different farm operations and depend on agriculture for their livelihood, even when they are not fully employed throughout the year. Due to too much involvement of labour in different farm operations, the cost of production of most of the crops in our country is quite high as compared to developed countries. 2.2 Draught Animal Power Draught animals, particularly bullocks, are still the

predominant source of mobile power on about 60% of the cultivated area consisting of about 85 million ha. They are very versatile and dependable source of power and are used in sun and rain under muddy and rough field conditions. They are born and reared in the village system and maintained on the feed and fodder available locally. They are ideal for rural transport where proper roads are not available. They reduce dependence on mechanical sources of power and save scarce petroleum products. Their dung and urine are also used as indirect source of energyfarmyard manure, biogas. They also help in maintaining ecological balance. Under Indian conditions where majority of the people are vegetarian and even amongst non-vegetarians, majority of them dont eat beef, draught animals as byproduct of milch animals, will continue to be available for draught purposes in future also. About 4-5 decades back most of the farm operations, water lifting, rural transport, oil extraction, sugarcane crushing, chaff cutting etc, were being done using draught animals only. But with the modernization of

Table 3. Time Series Population of Draught Animals in India during 1971-2001

(in millions) Type of Draught Animal Cattle over 3 yrs Buffaloes over 3 yrs Total Bovine Camel over 4 yrs Horses & ponies over 3 yrs Mules over 3 yrs Donkeys Total pack animals 1971 73.14 7.58 80.72 0.40 0.65 0.05 0.48 1.58 1976 71.23 7.93 79.16 0.40 0.64 0.06 0.48 1.58 1981 61.05 7.32 67.37 0.39 0.57 0.09 0.49 1.54 1986 63.57 6.78 70.35 0.38 0.56 0.12 0.49 1.55 1991 70.33 7.34 77.67 0.37 0.54 0.15 0.50 1.56 1996* 65.00 7.45 72.45 0.36 0.54 0.14 0.48 1.52 2001* 60.00 7.55 67.55 0.35 0.50 0.12 0.45 1.42

Note : *Estimate. Source : Singh, G and Singh, R.C. (2003) Harnessing Animal Power. CIAE Bhopal.

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agriculture, development of pucca roads connecting village and availability of electricity in those villages, most of the jobs earlier being done using draught animals, except field operations, are now being done using other convenient and cheaper options. Over the years the annual use of draught animals is going down. While earlier a pair of animals was being used for about 1200-1800 hours annually, their average annual use has now come down to about 250-500 h only, that too for tillage, sowing, weeding a little bit of rural transport on kuchha roads. The time series population of draught animals during 1971 to 2001 is given in Table 3 which shows that the population of draught animals during the last 10 years has been going down especially in those states where the demand of tractors and power tillers have gone high. It has been observed that on an average a tractor is replacing about 5 pairs and power tiller about 2 pairs of animals. The power available from draught animals is related to its body weight. The maximum draft available from different animals, in sustained working, on whole day basis (in two shifts) using local yokes/harnesses have been found as under: Bullocks : 10-12% of body weight in summer and 12-14% in winter Buffaloes : 12% of body weight in all seasons Camels : 18% of body weight up to 7 h, 26% up to 6 h following 2 h work + 2 h rest schedule. Donkeys : 32% of body weight up to 6 h and 36% up to 4 h in two shifts. On the basis of the body weight draught animals are categorised as small (200-300 kg), medium (300-400 kg), large (400-500 kg) and heavy (above 500 kg.) animal. From a good pair of animals weighing between 900-1000 kg we can get about 0.75-0.78 kW power. But in most of the States the pair weight of draught animals ranges between 600-800 kg/pair and power availability from them is only about 0.50-0.55 kW/pair. 2.3 Mobile Power from Tractors, Power Tillers and Self-Propelled Reapers and Combines For meeting the increased demand of mobile power for timely farm operations and increased intensity of cropping, additional power is available mainly from tractors and power tillers. Self propelled reapers and combines also provide mobile power specially for harvesting operations. In India tractor and power tiller production started in 1960 and today the annual production has crossed over 250,000 and 17,000 numbers, respectively and India has emerged as number one producer of small tractors in the world. While the demand of tractors has increased steeply, the demand

of power tillers has not grown that fast. The demand of tractors that has been increasing steadily has helped in providing additional mobile power on the farm for timely farm operations and has helped in increasing agricultural production and productivity. There are 14 manufacturers of tractors in the country producing about 60 models of tractors in different hp ranges. About 56.73% of the tractors produced are in the range of 23.12-29.84 kW (31-40 hp), about 17.16% in the range of 30.38-37.3 kW (41-50 hp) and about 21.50% in the range of 15.6623.38 kW (21-30 hp). Only about 4.46% tractors are produced in the range of above 37.30 kW (above 50 hp) and 0.15% in the range of less than 14.92 kW (20 hp) range. For calculating power availability from tractors on the farm, a weighted average of 26.1 kW per tractor has been taken. There are mainly 2 manufacturers of power tillers in the country producing about 6 models in the range of 5.97-8.95 kW (8-12 hp). In addition to them there are 4 other manufacturers who are importing Chinese make of power tillers and selling in the country. The total sale of power tillers in the country during 2001 was 16018 numbers. The major sales of power tillers are in the States of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Assam, Kerala, Orissa and Maharashtra. For calculating power availability from power tillers on the farm, a weighted average of 7.0 kW per unit has been taken. The time series population of tractors and power tillers in India is given in Tables 4. State wise population and density of tractors and power tillers is given in Table 5. Out of 14 manufacturers the major sale of tractors during 1995-2001 was from only 6 manufacturers as given in Table 6. State wise sale of tractors during 19962002 are given in Table 7.
Table 4. Timeseries Population of Tractors and Power Tillers in India
(in numbers) Year 1947 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 Tractor 4,500 8,500 39,000 1,76,000 5,94,000 13,04,000 27,59,936 Power tiller 2 13,008 15,406 34,614 93,884

Assuming average life of Tractors as 15 years and Power Tillers as 7 years

2.4 Stationary Power from Diesel Engines and Electric Motors Stationary power sources in agriculture comprise of diesel engines and electric motors used for irrigation

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Table 5. State-wise population and density of Tractors and Power Tillers in 1997-98
(in numbers) State Agricultural land 1000 ha Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Other States Union Territories Total 14,460 3,205 10,743 67 10,292 3,711 1,010 1,014 12,321 1,796 22,111 10,925 175 5,296 4,033 20,971 7,474 17,986 5,656 2,123 140 165,509 Population 100,067 6,434 74,130 126 146,528 233,376 3,189 3,717 73,856 7,708 195,108 110,763 357 12,989 332,675 175,288 85,062 434,412 16,121 77 4,568 2,015,551 Tractor Density/000 ha 6.92 2.01 6.90 1.88 14.24 62.89 2.17 3.67 5.99 4.29 8.82 5.29 2.04 2.45 82.49 8.36 11.38 24.15 2.58 0.04 32.63 12.18 Power Tiller Population 3,564 6,127 735 813 1,710 21 12 23 9,227 5,121 407 3,153 845 1,551 21 32 12,399 255 17,396 2,237 281 65,929 Density/000 ha 0.22 1.73 0.06 11.00 0.15 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.68 2.59 0.02 0.14 4.38 0.27 0.00 0.00 1.50 0.01 2.79 0.96 1.82 0.40

Source: Singh, Gajendra and Doharey R.S. (1999) Tractor Industry in India. Agricultural Engineering Today, Vol 23(1-2): 1-14

Table 6. Tractor Sales of Major Manufacturers during 1995-2002

(in numbers) Make Mahindra & Mahindra Punjab (Swaraj) Escorts+(farm tech) TAFE Eicher Sonalika HMT New Holland L & T Johndeer Same Greaves Gujarat All Makes 1807 (0.81) 220941 (100%) 1354 (0.54) 250378 (100%) 1115 (0.44) 254279 (100%) 1370 (0.52) 261609 (100%) 857 (0.31) 273181 (100%) 16981 (7.69) 19018 (7.59) 1995-96 50005 (22.63) 26315 (11.91) 38597 (17.47) 36370 (16.46) 21875 (9.9) 1996-97 57379 (22.92) 33034 (13.19) 43442 (17.35) 43585 (17.41) 23129 (9.24) 1997-98 67779 (26.65) 40245 (15.83) 48329 (19.00) 49160 (19.33) 24255 (9.54) 2770 (1.09) 19275 (7.58) NA 1998-99 69361 (26.51) 48336 (18.48) 45010 (17.20) 46462 (17.76) 25321 (9.68) 6211 (2.37) 18426 (7.04) NA 1999-2000 70595 (25.84) 50705 (18.56) 52010 (19.04) 45432 (16.63) 22629 (8.28) 8773 (3.21) 15730 (5.76) 2794 (1.02) 2000-01 79131 (31.05) 45712 (17.94) 45009 (17.66) 28975 (11.37) 18063 (7.09) 13496 (5.30) 13001 (5.10) 5200 (2.04) 1225 (0.48) 1348 (0.53) 605 (0.26) 254825 (100%) 2001-02 58073 (25.78) 40099 (17.80) 38035 (16.88) 28759 (12.78) 19026 (8.44) 17002 (7.55) 11051 (4.90) 5150 (2.29) 2610 (1.16) 1193 (0.53) 985 (0.44) 225280 (100%)

Note :Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source :Agricultural Engineering Today Vol 23(1-2) 1999, Vol 24(2) 2000, Vol 25(1-2) 2001 and Vol 26(1-2) 2002.

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Table 7. State-wise sale of Tractors during 1996-2002

(in numbers) Year Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 State Total during 6 years 83,078 3,036 77,308 1,08,634 1,21,186 3,118 4,339 58,727 3,7789 1,73,794 94,503 17,338 1,62,273 1,30,625 55,648 3,39,527 17,023 34,734 14,88,851 Average annual sale 13,846 506 12,885 18,106 20,198 520 723 9,788 631 28,966 15,750 2,890 27,045 21,771 9,275 56,588 2,837 5,789 2,48,142 % of total sale 5.58 0.20 5.19 7.31 8.14 0.20 0.29 3.95 0.25 11.67 6.35 1.16 10.90 8.77 3.75 22.80 1.15 2.34 100.00 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

Table 9. Farm Power Availability on Indian Farms

Farm Power kW/ha 0.25 0.31 0.36 0.63 0.92 1.35 Source wise% Animate 97.4 94.9 79.2 48.2 34.5 18.0 Mechanical 2.1 3.7 16.3 32.3 34.7 55.0 (36.68)* Electrical 0.5 1.4 4.5 19.5 30.8 27.0

Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Export and others Total

Note: *Figure in parenthesis is mobile farm power

that of draught animals, has been going down drastically. This shows that the additional need of farm power is being met through mechanical and electrical sources of power. This trend is going to continue in future also. 2.6 Farm Power Availability and Productivity Considering the average command area of a pair of draught animals, a power tiller of 7.46 kW and a tractor of about 26.1 kW as 2 ha, 6 ha and 15 ha respectively, about 500 pairs of bullocks, or 167 power tillers or about 67 tractors or a combination of the three sources would be required per 1000 ha of cultivated area. From Table 10 it can be seen that except for Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar other states do not have adequate farm power to do timely tillage and seedbed preparations. Similarly from Table 7 it is seen that during last 7 years the average sale of tractors was about 74.84% mainly in the northern States of Uttar Pradesh (Including Uttaranchal), Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh), Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Bihar (including Jharkhand) and only about 19.63% in southern States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This also shows that in future also the southern States (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala), Orissa, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and States of NEH region will depend mainly on animate source of power and to a little extent on power tillers. It has been experienced that those states, which have higher horsepower availability on the farm, in general, have higher productivity. The power productivity curve, which has linear relationship, has been shown in Fig. 2. This is based on the average farm power availability and food grain productivity of different states in 2001. Source-wise and operation-wise energy use pattern in Punjab agriculture is given in Tables 11 and 12. Table 11 shows that about 54% energy in crop production comes from direct sources like diesel, electricity, human, animal and machinery and 46% from

Source :Agricultural Engineering Today Vol 23(1-2) 1999, Vol 24(2) 2000, Vol 25(1-2) 2001 and Vol 26(1-2) 2002.

equipment, operating threshers and other stationary machines. For calculation purposes the average weighted power of diesel engines has been taken as 5.6 kW and for electric motors as 3.7 kW and 7.46 kW for small pump sets and submersible pumps respectively. Time series population of diesel engines and electric motors are given in Table 8.
Table 8. Time series population of Diesel Engines and Electric Motors in Agriculture in India
(in millions) Power Source Diesel engines Electric motors Power sprayers 1551 0.083 0.020 1961 0.230 0.100 1971 1.546 1.629 0.045 1981 3.101 4.330 0.124 1991* 4.659 6.910 0.470 2001* 6.60 9.50 0.70

Note :*Estimated Source :Singh, G. (1997). Data book on Mechanisation and AgroProcessing since Independence. CIAE Bhopal.

2.5 Average Farm Power Availability on Indian Farms Time-series availability of farm power on Indian farms from all sources is given in Table 9. From the table it can be seen that while in 1951 major contribution in farm power was from animate power (human + draught animal), where as in 2001 the major share was that of mechanical and electrical power. Over the years the contribution of animate source of power, especially

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Table 10. Farm Power availability and density of Tractors, Power Tillers, Draught Animals and Agricultural Workers in different States in 1997-98
State Agricultural Land 1000 ha Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Other States Union Territories Total 14,460 3,205 10,743 67 10,292 3,711 1,010 1,014 12,321 1,796 22,111 10,925 175 5,296 4,033 20,971 7,474 17,986 5,656 2,123 140 165,509 Farm Power KW/ha 1.38 0.69 0.69 0.52 1.94 0.60 0.52 0.78 0.69 0.69 0.60 0.55 0.52 3.03 0.56 0.78 1.51 1.08 0.50 0.50 1.17 Tractor Density /000 ha 6.92 2.01 6.90 1.88 14.24 62.89 2.17 3.67 5.99 4.29 8.82 5.29 2.04 2.45 82.49 8.36 11.38 24.15 2.58 0.04 32.63 12.18 Power Tiller Density/000 ha 0.22 1.73 0.06 11.00 0.15 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.68 2.59 0.02 0.14 4.38 0.27 0.00 0.00 1.50 0.01 2.79 0.96 1.82 0.40 Draught Animals Density /000 ha 360 964 910 500 260 183 758 877 362 117 485 310 1818 987 155 132 155 636 906 255 122 438 Agricultural Workers Density /000 ha 2,062 1956 3175 880 988 895 2373 1950 1210 1644 1138 1195 3770 1366 938 695 2624 2020 2380 2930 1075 2218

4500

Power Productivity Relationship

Punjab

4000

3500

Food G rain Productiv uty (kg/ha)

3000

Haryana

2500
Kerala

Tamilnadu WB AP

2000
Bihar HP Assam Gujarat J&K Orissa Chhattisgarh

UP

Uttaranchal Karnataka

1500

1000

Jharkhand MP Rajasthan Maharashtra

500

0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Farm Power(kW/ha)

Food Grain Productivity (kg/ha)

Linear (Food Grain Productivity (kg/ha))

Fig. 2. Farm Power and Productivity Relationship

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Table 11. Source-wise Energy input in Punjab Agriculture

Source A. Direct Diesel Electricity Human Animal Machinery Total of A B. Indirect Fertiliser & chemical Seed Farm yard manure Total of B Total of A + B % of Total Energy used

Table 13. Share of different Sources of Energy in Punjab Agriculture

(in percentage) Source of Power Animate Seed Fertiliser & chemical Diesel Electricity Total 1980-81 2.9 5.4 36.3 33.4 22.0 100.0 1990-91 1.7 4.0 33.6 27.0 33.7 100.0 1999-2000 1.3 3.1 30.2 25.8 39.6 100.0

26 16 7 3 2 54 29 9 8 46 100

Source :Singh, Surendra and Singh, Jasdev (2002). Research Digest on Energy Requirement in Agriculture Sector. Deptt. of Farm Power & Machinery, PAU Ludhiana.

Source :Singh, Surendra and Singh, Jasdev (2002). Research Digest on Energy Requirement in Agriculture Sector. Deptt. of Farm Power & Machinery, PAU Ludhiana.

indirect sources like fertilizer & chemicals, seeds, and farm yard manure. Operation wise irrigation takes the maximum energy, i.e. 51% of the total energy, followed by harvesting and threshing, tillage, transport, sowing, weeding fertilizer application & spraying and on -farm post harvest operations. Time series share of different sources of energy in Punjab agriculture is given in Table 13, which shows that during last two decades (19802000) while the share of animate sources of energy, seed, fertilizer and diesel has gone down, the share of electrical energy is gradually increasing. This is due to the fact the majority of irrigation equipment which was earlier being operated using diesel engines is now being operated using electric motors. From Table 12, it can be seen that in Punjab agriculture more than 50% of the total energy is used for irrigation purposes. For this electrical source of energy would be the cheapest source of power. Harvesting and threshing operation also takes about 19%
Table 12. Operation-wise Energy input in Punjab Agriculture
Operation Irrigation Harvesting and threshing Tillage Transport Sowing Weeding Fertiliser and chemical Post harvest Total % of Total Energy used 51 19 13 8 2 3 2 2 100

of total energy. If threshing is to be done by using threshers it should also be done by using electrical energy. The data of AICRP on Energy Requirement in Agriculture Sector shows that the total energy requirement of irrigated farms is much more than unirrigated farms. Similarly the total energy requirements of tractor farms are higher than the mixed farms and
Table 14. Source wise Energy Requirements for Raising Wheat under different Farming System in Punjab
(Energy in MJ/ha) Energy Source Rain-fed farming Partially irrigated using improved traditional equipment 884 785 2493 5265 1166 0 810 0 167 13570 1632 8310 3.1 21.9 78.1 87.2 12.8 Irrigated Irrigated using improved equipment

Human 601 Animal 818 Diesel 1302 Electricity 0 Seeds 1168 Farmyard manure 0 Fertiliser 1471 Chemicals 0 Machinery 56 Total Energy 6412 Grain yield kg/ha 612 Specific energy 8840 requirement MJ/ha Energy ratio 2.8 Renewable energy% 47.7 Non Renewable 52.3 Energy% Commercial 73.9 Energy% Non Commercial 26.1 Energy%

929 124 4460 2874 1341 0 9253 141 206 19328 3790 5100 5.2 12.4 87.6 94.6 5.4

704 251 5508 2342 1546 0 8665 116 236 19368 4677 4140 5.9 12.9 87.1 95.1 4.9

Source :Singh, Surendra and Singh, Jasdev (2002). Research Digest on Energy Requirement in Agriculture Sector. Deptt. of Farm Power & Machinery, PAU Ludhiana.

Source :Singh, Surendra and Singh, Jasdev (2002). Research Digest on Energy Requirement in Agriculture Sector. Deptt. of Farm Power & Machinery, PAU Ludhiana.

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Table 15. Average Energy consumption in Crop Production in States of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa
Crop Total Energy MJ/ha Punjab Yield t/ha Specific energy MJ/kg Energy Productivity Kg/MJ 0.21 0.22 0.10 0.13 0.82 2.62 8800 3700 9279 32071 4437 5330 1.04 6.00 1.25 0.98 8.92 5.35 3.55 3.55 0.11 0.19 0.28 0.18 60.00 0.45 1.00 8.20 1.00 0.12 Total Energy MJ/ha Madhya Pradesh Yield t/ha Specific energy MJ/kg Energy Productivity Kg/MJ 0.25 0.20 0.07 0.92 Total Energy MJ/ha Orissa Yield t/ha Specific energy MJ/kg Energy Productivity Kg/MJ 0.29

Paddy Wheat Cotton Maize Sugarcane (Planted) Sugarcane (Ratoon) Groundnut Bengalgram Mustard Potato Sorghum Soybean

30,298 18816 12598 12052 79037 24643

6.40 4.1 1.30 1.49 65.2 64.6

4.72 4.57 9.74 8.11 1.21 0.38

7833 11677 5805 62218

1.98 2.34 0.43 57.5

3.96 4.99 13.50 1.08

12100

3.50

3.50

59000

60.00

1.00

1.00

3312 7700 37448

0.39 0.77 16.52

8.47 10.00 2.27

0.12 0.10 0.44

Source :De, Dipanker (1998). Research on Energy Requirement in Agricultural Sector under AICRP on ERAS, Agricultural Engineering Today, Vol. 22(3-4): 60-85.

animal farms. But since the yields of irrigated farms and that of tractor and mixed farms are higher than the un-irrigated and animal farms, the productivity in terms of kg/MJ of energy used is more or less similar. Source wise energy requirements (MJ/ha) for raising wheat crop under different farming systems in Punjab are given in Table 14. This shows that the grain yield has increased from 612 kg/ha from rain-fed farming system to 4677 kg/ha in irrigated farming system using improved equipment. As the energy input through machinery and total energy input increased the grain yield was also increased. Table 11 shows that in Punjab agriculture about 81.48% of direct energy for various field operations come from commercial energy only. In other states it may vary from 35% to about 65% depending upon the type of farm (tractor operated, mixed farm or animal operated farm). Average energy requirement for different crops in three different states are given in Table 15. This shows that certain crops require less energy while crops like sugarcane; potato and paddy require more energy. The actual farm power requirement of different states will also depend on the crops grown in that region. 2.7 Per Unit Cost of Energy from Different Sources of Farm Power The per unit cost of using energy from different sources of farm power differ greatly as shown in Table 16 and hence they should be used very judiciously.

Table 16. Per Unit Cost of using Different Sources of Energy

Source of Power Equivalent to kW Hiring charges Rs Cost per unit of Energy Rs/kWh

a.

b. c.

d.

Human Male Female Draught Animals Mechanical Tractor Power Tiller Diesel Engine Electric Motor

0.060 0.048 0.746 26.100 7.000 5.600

60/day 60/day 175/day/pair 200/h 75/h 40/h 3.00/unit

125.00 156.00 29.32 7.14 10.71 7.14 3.00

In India, use of human and draught animals is very predominant in agriculture in most parts of the country and hence the cost of production is quite high as compared to advanced countries where mechanical power is predominantly used. As far as possible human energy should be used for very precise work or for operating machines where brainpower is to be used for decision-making and not for physical work. 3. FUTURE REQUIREMENTS OF FARM POWER TO SUSTAIN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION For growing population we need more production of food grains. The ICAR in its Vision 2020 document has projected the demand of food grains as about 293.6 million tonnes by 2020. The Planning Commission of

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Table 17. Productivity Trend of Food grains in Important States during 2001-2002
Yield, kg/ha 4500-5000 4000-4500 3500-4000 3000-3500 2500-3000 Food-grains Punjab (4032) Haryana (3088) Rice Punjab (3506) Tamil Nadu (3415) Andhra Pradesh (2842) Haryana (2259) Karnataka (2520) West Bengal (2287) Kerala (2162) Wheat Punjab (4561) Haryana (4109) Uttar Pradesh (2720) Coarse Cereals

Punjab (2847)

2000-2500

Tamil Nadu (2262) West Bengal (2217) Uttar Pradesh (2105)

West Bengal (2485) Rajasthan (2405) Gujarat (2268) Bihar (2134) Uttaranchal (1885) Jharkhand (1626) Himachal Pradesh (1554)

Bihar (2131) Himachal Pradesh (2131)

1500-2000

Andhra Pradesh (1995) Uttaranchal (1712) Bihar (1622)

Uttar Pradesh (1976) Gujarat (1553)

West Bengal (1909) Andhra Pradesh (1531) Uttar Pradesh (1512) Jammu & Kashmir (1519) Uttaranchal (1279) Tamil Nadu (1263) Gujarat (1161) Haryana (1078)

1000-1500

Karnataka (1406) Assam (1443) Gujarat (1169) Jharkhand (1095)

Assam (1485) Bihar (1475) Maharashtra (1285) Jharkhand (1111) Orissa (1044) Chhattisgarh (900) Madhya Pradesh (574)

Madhya Pradesh (1446) Maharashtra (1256) Assam (1219)

500-1000

Orissa (9500 Madhya Pradesh (907) Chhattisgarh (799) Rajasthan (884) Maharashtra (757) -

Karnataka (915) Jammu & Kashmir (525)

Jharkhand (953) Orissa (737)

0- 500

Chhattisgarh (377)

Government of India has estimated a food grain requirement of 230 million tonnes by the end of Xth Five Year Plan (2006-07). Since the cultivated area cannot be increased, the increased production will be

possible only by increased productivity and increased intensity of cropping. This will call for precision farming and timely farm operations which will require high capacity and precision equipment for which farm power

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FARM POWER SOURCES, THEIR AVAILABILITY AND FUTURE REQUIREMENTS TO SUSTAIN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Table 18. Potential State Yields of Rice-Wheat Systems in Indo- Gangetic Plains
States Optimal Rice-Wheat Planting System Rice-Wheat Punjab Haryana Uttar Pradesh Bihar West Bengal Indo-Gangetic Plains 18.29 17.87 17.48 16.43 13.37 16.70 Rice 10.60 10.53 10.34 9.73 8.07 9.88 Wheat 7.69 7.34 7.14 6.70 5.30 6.82 Average Potential Yield, t/ha Ricelate Wheat Planting System Rice-Wheat 17.18 16.87 16.46 15.47 13.35 15.85 Rice 10.60 10.53 10.34 9.73 8.07 9.88 Wheat 6.58 6.33 6.12 2.75 5.28 5.97

Source : Aggarwal, P.K., Talukdar, K.K. and Mall, R.K. (2000). Potential Yields of Rice-Wheat System in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. Paper Series No. 10, Fecilitation Unit: Rice-Wheat Consortium for Indo-Gangetic Plains. Centre for Application of Systems Simulation, NRL Building, IARI, New Delhi-110 012.

availability will have to be increased substantially. In order to make agricultural production competitive and cost effective the use of mechanical and electrical sources of power will increase in future and the use of draught animals and human power will slowly be going down. The productivity trend of food grains in important states is given in Table 17. In general, those states, which have higher average horsepower availability per ha on the farm, have high productivity, except states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala where in spite of comparatively lower hp availability, the yields are high. This is because of good and well-distributed rainfall and low water table that reduces the requirement of additional power for irrigation to a great extent. The additional requirement of food grains in future will be met to a great extent from Indo-Gangetic plains where the potentiality of food grain production is very high as shown in Table 18. This region will have to be paid greater attention by providing more hp/ha and making availability of agricultural inputs in time. Even now the demand of tractors and other machinery from this region is high and will continue to be so in future also. The productivity of dryland agriculture, which constitutes about 66% of the total cultivated area, is quite low. The productivity of this region has to be increased substantially. In dryland agriculture, timeliness in farm operations, especially the seedbed preparation and sowing/planting for establishing good crop stand in deficient/receding soil moisture condition is of crucial importance. Unless adequate mobile farm power is not available on the farm, the sowing operation gets delayed resulting poor crop stand and yields. In these areas farmers should use tractors and seed drills/planters for timely sowing operations. Such devices will have to be made available to even marginal and small farmers on custom basis to do their seedbed preparation and sowing

operations in time. Small and marginal categories of farmers constitute 78.2% of total farming households in India. They do not find it economical to maintain even a pair of draught animals. They will slowly switch over to tractor power on custom basis. The demand of tractors, power tillers and matching implements will increase in all the regions, amongst the small and marginal farmers also, on custom basis, which should be promoted by the State and Central governments by giving incentives to entrepreneurs. At present the availability of farm power in states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh is less than 0.90 kW/ha or even below. These states will continue to use predominantly the draught animal power for few more years before switching to mechanical mobile power. The demand of tractors and power tillers in these states will increase in future. Kerala, which also has low hp/ha availability, will fast be moving towards mechanical power, as the labour wages in this state are the highest in the country. States in NEH Region, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttaranchal because of their hilly region, undulating topography and difficult terrain will continue to depend on draught animals and human labour for quite a long time. These states will require lightweight power tillers, which could be transported on hills and operated on terraces. To meet the demand of food grain production of about 293.5 million tones by 2020 as projected by ICAR, the over all productivity of food grain production at National level will have to be increased from the present level of 1723 kg/ha (in 2001) to about 2300 kg/ha by 2020 for which, besides other things, the average farm power availability will have to be increased from the present level of about 1.35 to 2.00 kW/ha by 2020. Since the

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STATUS OF FARM MECHANIZATION IN INDIA

Table 19. Projected Population of Mechanical and Electrical sources of Power Units in 2020
Future Projections 2001 Farm Power, kW/ha Share of Animate Power % Share of Mechanical Power % Mobile % Stationary % Share of Electrical Power % Population of Tractors, 26.1 kW size, in millions Population of Power Tillers, 7.0 kW, in millions Self Propelled Combines, 37kW Power Sprayers, in millions Diesel Engines, 5.6 kW Electric motors, in millions Size 3.70 kW Size 7.46 kW 1.35 18.00 55.00 36.68 18.32 27.00 2.76 0.094 0.025 0.70 6.6 9.50 4.75 4.75 Year 2010 1.65 12.00 61.50 42.68 21.32 3.75 0.25 0.040 1.00 8.25 11.30 5.90 5.45 2020 2.00 5.00 70.00 50.00 25.00 25.00 4.90 0.50 0.060 1.35 10.10 13.55 7.30 6.25

REFERENCES
Aggarwal, P.K., Talukdar, K.K. and Mall, R.K. (2000). Potential Yields of Rice-Wheat System in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. Paper Series No. 10, Fecilitation Unit: RiceWheat Consortium for Indo-Gangetic Plains. Centre for Application of Systems Simulation, NRL Building IARI New Delhi-110 012. Anonymous (2002). Agricultural Statistics at a Glance. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. Anonymous (2000). Production and sale of tractors. Agricultural Engineering Today Vol 24(1). Anonymous (2001). Production and sale of tractors. Agricultural Engineering Today Vol 25(1-2). Anonymous (2002). Production and sale of tractors. Agricultural Engineering Today Vol 26(1-2). De, Dipankar (1998). Research on Energy Requirement in Agricultural Sector under AICRP on ERAS. Agricultural Engineering Today Vol. 22(3-4): 60-85. De, Dipankar et al. (2000). Power Availability in Indian Agriculture. Technical Bulletin CIAE Bhopal. Singh, G. (1997). Data book on Mechanisation and AgroProcessing since Independence. Technical Bulletin, CIAE Bhopal. Singh, G and Singh, R.C. (2003) Harnessing Animal Power. Technical Bulletin, CIAE Bhopal. Singh, Gajendra and Doharey R.S. (1999) Tractor Industry in India. Agricultural Engineering Today, Vol 23(1-2): 114. Singh, Surendra and Singh, Jasdev (2002). Research Digest on Energy Requirement in Agricultural Sector. Technical Bulletin, Deptt. of Farm Power & Machinery, PAU Ludhiana. Srivastava, N.S.L. (1999). Role of Agricultural Engineering in Doubling Food Production in next ten years. Agricultural Engineering Today, Vol. 23(1-2): 37-49. Srivastava, N.S.L. (2002). Animate Energy in Agriculture. Publication on Invited Papers International Conference on Managing Natural Resources for Sustainable Agricultural Production in the 21st Century, held at New Delhi during February 14-18, 2000, pp466-477.

draught animal population is going down due to economic considerations and convenience point of view and availability of agricultural labourers will increase only marginally, the additional demand of farm power will come mainly from mechanical and electrical sources of power. It is visualized that by 2020 the availability of farm power will be on the following pattern.
Farm power availability Share of Animate power will be 5% Share of Mechanical power will be 70% (Mobile 50% and Stationary 25%) Share of electrical power will be 25% : 2.00 kW/ha : 0.10 kW/ha : 1.40 kW/ha

: 0.50 kW/ha

Accordingly the estimated population of tractors, power tillers, combines, self propelled machines, power sprayers, diesel engines and electric motors is given in Table 19, assuming that the total cultivated area remains as 143 million ha.

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