India made progress in farm mechanisation but still remains uneven: NCAER

New Delhi, Feb 7 (PT) India has witnessed considerable progress in farm mechanisation but its spread across the country still remains "uneven", according to a latest report by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

Even the farm power availability in India is much lower as compared to the US, Japan and Korea, it said.

The report "Making India a Global Power House on Farm Machinery Industry" was released by Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje here.

"Though we are witnessing considerable progress in farm mechanisation, its spread across the length and breadth of our country still remains uneven," said an official statement quoting the NCAER's latest report.

Availability of adequate farm power is very crucial for timely farm operations for increasing production and productivity and reducing losses. With the increase in intensity of cropping, the turnaround time is drastically reduced, which demands availability of adequate power for timely farm operations for subsequent crops, it said.

"Our farm power availability is at 2.49 Kw/ha in 2018-19 which is much lower as compared to Korea (+7 kw/ha), Japan (+14kw/ha), the USA(+7kw/ha)," the report noted.

The NCAER has analysed the non-tractor farm machinery industry from both demand and supply side perspectives, bringing out the challenges in the sector, and recommending measures and reforms by benchmarking global practices in their report.

The report, amongst other things, stressed that India needs a vision for the next 15 years to convert itself into a production and export hub for non-tractor farm machinery.

After releasing the report, Karandlaje said the government is implementing various schemes to increase the intake of farm power by farmers and improve the farm efficiency.

The government is also making efforts to improve the effectiveness of schemes promoting farm mechanisation. In this connection, impact studies and third-party audits of the schemes are being done regularly, it said.

She hoped that the NCAER's latest report will provide important insights to policy makers. PTI LUX HVA