Information Services Can Help Machine Dependent Farmers
Mechanised farming is changing the landscape of India by helping farmers turn in profits and combat issues of migration, labour loss. For machine dependent farmers, information services play a key role in generating awareness and knowledge.
With regards to the machinery and farm equipment used, the industry is upgrading and solution-driven. For agrarian development, a farmer’s know-how about the machines available and at his disposal is key to successful cultivation.
Machines play a huge role in the farming sector and its development, a crucial role which currently is witnessing big demand. While the green revolution and modified seeds took centre-stage in the seventies and eighties, the farming machinery industry is presently reshaping the narrative of agriculture in India. This is no surprise since machines are replacing the need for animal as well as human intervention at all stages of cultivation. Machine dependent farmers have also been able to better their production.
Forget the bullock-drawn land tillers as every stage of farming is now heavily-driven by machines. The need for manual labour is decreasing with technology being more efficiently used, especially with regards to fast-depleting resources like water. With mass exodus from villages to urban cities, even availability of labour is now difficult.
Information To Awareness: Win-Win For Machine Dependent Farmers And Companies
To create awareness at the ground-level, equipping farmers with information first, it is necessary for a proper outreach programme to be in place. For a farmer to invest in equipment, he has to be made aware of the benefits of mechanised farming, latest research and developments and government policies backing this industry.
To do so, it is important to capture relevant data from farmers regarding his or her land, crop which makes the machinery provider reach the correct farmer. Additionally, the use of machinery on the land needs expert advice, especially for new farmers. With correct information about the specific machine, a farmer can increase efficiency on farm drastically.
Below information is important for a farmer in a crop cycle:
Knowing about farmer’s crop & land
Knowing about a farmer’s farm size
Knowing about the intention of farmer’s activity
Providing best practices for the machinery
Providing assistance through phone when a farmer is in need
Providing access points and a communication channel to interact with those access points easily
The point of generating awareness is for both parties to make informed choices regarding their yields, and information services lead to an exchange of ideas that help with it.
From Seeding To Reaping Benefits, Machines Lead The Way
Machines now help farmers at every stage, starting from sowing seeds to finally reap the harvests. The job gets done faster with less expense, especially at bigger farms. The farmer becomes an entrepreneur when machines do most of the menial jobs, providing them with time and energy to live a healthier, better life. Most importantly, the resources that used to be consumed by animals and farm hands have been reduced.
The profitability of a crop is today dependant on the farmer’s use of machines and technology. Other than maximising income, the industry of farm mechanisation has had a very important aspect — that of improving the lives of rural women. Adopting machines have improved the lives and working condition of women in rural India.
According to several statistics, almost 60% of the agrarian society is comprised of women, especially because of increased urban migration when men leave for the cities hoping for better earning.
Information Services To Help Smaller Farms Adopt Mechanised Farming
One must realise that machines are no longer restricted to only direct cultivation but in every little aspect of it. The government of India has played a significant role in developing this industry, making information and technology available to ground-level workers.
Punjab and Haryana are two states which have adopted mechanised farming as a successful model of agriculture — a model promoted by the National Food Security Mission. During the year 2015–16, the Mission distributed a large number of machines — rotavators, power-operated spray pumps, laser land levellers, tractor-operated sprayers, drill-cum-planters — in the two states which usually have large land holdings.
For the smaller and marginalised farms, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launched Sub-mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) in 2014–15 in order to help farmers adopt agricultural machines. The main aim of the mission is to reach areas lacking the awareness and adopting of mechanised farming.
