Mechanization Options for Alternate Land Use and Resource Conservation

Abstract

Present day of conventional agriculture is under transition stage which demands alternative land use with resource conservation for higher profits. Mechanization is one of the tools to implement the technologies recommended by the researchers who have been working in this field. High labour charges and shortage of skilled labour forcing the farmer’s to look for alternate agriculture with less risk. Hence the farm mechanization would be the answer for efficient and cost saving in implementing the desired technologies at on-farm. The alternate land systems could be an agroforestry with intercropping, Biofuel plantation, and waste land development integrated with watershed management etc. All these systems need the combination of implements to reduce the drudgery and enhance the quality of operations to be performed at site. The mechanized operations include land preparation, leveling, seed bed preparation, bedmaking, broad bed and furrow sowing, tree hole digging, sowing, intercultivation, harvesting and value addition. The following subheads deal with the specific machinery and methods of mechanization for different operations.