Scope of mechanization in horticultural crops

Abstract

Mechanization plays a vital role in securing the future of fruit growers in developed countries. The demand for sustainable mechanization and services will continue to rise naturally with a growing population’s demand for food, feed and biological industrial raw materials from agriculture and horticulture. Mechanization is necessary because of the rural migration, as the younger generation responds to economic opportunities in the agricultural service sectors as well as non-agriculture sectors, and with the growing urban employment and improved quality of life. In situations where family labour remains the main source of farm power, there is also a need to reduce labour requirement and improve labour productivity as well as total output so that child labour and drudgery can be eliminated. The machinery improves the farmer’s ability to perform operations in a timely manner. It also reduces the risks associated with the need for large amounts of seasonal labour for short periods of time and lessens the social problems. It is important to encourage sustainable private sector development that can offer farmers the right choice of technology at the right price to increase productivity to support rural economic development, contribute to local and national food security, reduce post-harvest losses and promote local manufacturing of equipment and machinery. The modern day horticultural mechanization includes various growing techniques and production processes, working operations, technical procedures, appropriate techniques for soil management systems, orchard tractors, machines for working the soil, machines for mulching and mowing grass, post hole diggers, spreaders, sprayers, front-fitted knife trimmers, harvesting machines, transporting equipment, shakers, harvesters etc. The harvesting, pruning and spraying are still a manual task and need to be mechanized. The average farm power density in India is 1 kW ha-1. Power availability during crucial period of operations causes limitation in timeliness. Required power density to achieve timeliness of operations is estimated as 3.75 kW ha-1. The demand for sustainable mechanization and services will continue to rise with a growing demand for food, feed and biological industrial raw materials from the rural infrastructure, domestic supply chains and service providers. Local manufacturers and world markets in equipment and machinery are all of vital importance. It is crucial that multidisciplinary research, involving plant scientists, engineers, food scientists, economists and marketing expertise needs to be focused on creating new production systems. Innovation will come through intimate understanding of the system. Growing systems need to be designed for specific crops and then dedicated machines will fit. Mechanization and robotics for fruit harvesting, grading and packing remains more of a problem than for vegetables. The study of various control systems such as pneumatic, hydraulic, hydro-pneumatic and electrical control reveals that the use of hydraulic control system will be more beneficial and reliable for horticultural crop harvesting equipment.