02-09-2017, 09:23 AM
Despite its vital role in modernizing agriculture and increasing its productivity, the pace of balanced and integrated agricultural mechanization is slow.
The reasons are many: lack of political direction, low bank loans for agricultural development and poor state of the production of local agricultural machinery.
Successive governments have focused on launching and relaunching subsidized tractor mechanization schemes for agricultural mechanics, while solar and drip irrigation and sprinkler systems have practically been in the background, but for some initiatives in recent years.
Undoubtedly, the systems of tractors have helped the mechanization of agriculture. About 76pc farmers now farm the land with tractors, 20pc with tractors and draft animals and only 4pc use of draft animals alone, official statistics reveal.
Statistics Bureau of Pakistan, in coordination with provincial governments, also collects statistics on tubular wells and lifting pumps, cultivators, moldboard plows, bar / disc harrows, disc plows, saws and trolleys and trailers. And when you compare your last count (from 2010) to the previous one (from 2004) you actually see a growing trend in its use.
But in general terms, agricultural mechanization is still at an early stage.
And this is one of the key factors responsible for maintaining agriculture where it is now - the increase in yield per hectare is low and slow, losses before and after harvest are huge and processing, sorting and packaging of the products agricultural account
A study by the Faisalabad University of Agriculture found a few years ago that much of the wheat growers in Punjab use less than the recommended number of machines that affect crop yield. The same can be said of growers of major crops in parts of other provinces as well.
"An important reason for this is that most farmers, particularly with small farms, do not know how to prioritize the expense of inputs," says a former secretary of the Sindh department of agriculture. "Low bank loans for agricultural machinery and the disorganised nature of agricultural production also prevent the promotion of agricultural mechanization."
The reasons are many: lack of political direction, low bank loans for agricultural development and poor state of the production of local agricultural machinery.
Successive governments have focused on launching and relaunching subsidized tractor mechanization schemes for agricultural mechanics, while solar and drip irrigation and sprinkler systems have practically been in the background, but for some initiatives in recent years.
Undoubtedly, the systems of tractors have helped the mechanization of agriculture. About 76pc farmers now farm the land with tractors, 20pc with tractors and draft animals and only 4pc use of draft animals alone, official statistics reveal.
Statistics Bureau of Pakistan, in coordination with provincial governments, also collects statistics on tubular wells and lifting pumps, cultivators, moldboard plows, bar / disc harrows, disc plows, saws and trolleys and trailers. And when you compare your last count (from 2010) to the previous one (from 2004) you actually see a growing trend in its use.
But in general terms, agricultural mechanization is still at an early stage.
And this is one of the key factors responsible for maintaining agriculture where it is now - the increase in yield per hectare is low and slow, losses before and after harvest are huge and processing, sorting and packaging of the products agricultural account
A study by the Faisalabad University of Agriculture found a few years ago that much of the wheat growers in Punjab use less than the recommended number of machines that affect crop yield. The same can be said of growers of major crops in parts of other provinces as well.
"An important reason for this is that most farmers, particularly with small farms, do not know how to prioritize the expense of inputs," says a former secretary of the Sindh department of agriculture. "Low bank loans for agricultural machinery and the disorganised nature of agricultural production also prevent the promotion of agricultural mechanization."