Farm mechanization vis-à-vis productivity in Punjab

Farming is one of the major occupations in most of the developing countries. The introduction of high yielding varieties and intensive cropping system reduces the time gap between the two crops. The inability to complete farm operations in time is one of the several factors that results reduced productivity and production. Mechanization assures timely completion of farm operations, hence maintains productivity and prevents losses in production. The relationship between farm power availability and productivity was studied for the period 1980–2000. It was observed that the animate farm power remained almost constant for the last three decades, where as stationary and mobile farm powers increased 4 and 9 times, respectively during the same period. To quantify the increased level of mechanization, the crop-wise degree of mechanization for wheat, paddy, maize and cotton was also calculated. It was found that degree of mechanization increased from 0.55 to 0.78 for wheat 0.56 to 0.85 for paddy, and 0.42 to 0.58 for cotton over the years 1980 to 2000. However, it remained almost same for maize (0.481–0.482).