Thursday, December 23, 2010

Mechanization

Agriculture in Pakistan is largely dependent upon traditional implements. Wooden ploughs and iron sickles still dominate the agricultural scene although tractors and threshers have made great headway. Meanwhile, the debate for and against mechanization continues.
Low yields are a common agricultural problem in Pakistan. Some people mistakenly assume that crop yields will increase with greater mechanization. However, the application of fertilizer, insecticides and pesticides, along with improvved seeds and adequate water, do more good in increasing crop yields than mechanization.
Tractors still play the key role in mechanization, as they make possible the use of the disc plough, the mould board plough, the chisel plough, the disc harrow, cultivators and other machines which help to pulverize the soil and enable deep plouhing. If the land is prepared properly, farmers have an increased chance of growing healthy crops.
Tractors are not only more efficient but also quicker than traditional bullocks. As a result, the introduction of tractors has also led to a 56 percent decrease in the number of farm animals in Pakistan. Thus, the maintenance cost of tractors and other farm machinery can be balanced out by the reduction in the number of work animals can then be used to produce food for human consumptions or raw materials for factories. It is claimed that the small size of farms is unsuitable for the large scale use of tractors. However, they have been successfully used in Japan, where the size of farms is also comparatively small.
The government's policy towards mechanization has fluctuated over the years. In 1952, the Pakistan Agricultural Inquiry Committee discouraged the use of tractors in view of the unemployment situation in the country. At that time, it was estimated that compete mechanization would replace two thirds of the farm labor force. On the other hand, the food and Agricultural Committee of 1969 strongly recommended the mechanization of agriculture. Since then, the government has favored mechanization and has provided farmers loans for the purchase of farm equipment. The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council also promotes the use of mechanized farm equipment. As a result, the number of tractors and other farm machinery has increased steadily. Aside from tractors, tillers, combines, harvesters, threshers, reapers and transplanters have also been introduced. The use of machinery in developing new agricultural land is now a common practice.
As the tractor is the most basic of farm equipment, it is a useful index to measure the extent of mechanization in the country. In the beginning, Pakistan was dependent on imported tractors. Now the demand for tractors is largely met by local production. In 1997-8, more than 14000 tractors were manufactured. The government still provides subsidies for the purchase of tractors. In 1994, Punjab accounted for 84 percent of tractor use, Sindh 9 percent, the NWFP 5 percent and Balochistan 2 percent.

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