Farm Mechanization- The Future of Indian Agriculture

Prof. Harish Hirani, 

Director CSIR-CMERI

Food is the most fundamental commodity for a civilisation to thrive. Thus, whenever a Society undergoes any undue stress for the reason of calamities or pandemics, such as COVID-19, Agriculture is bound to be the key-driver behind keeping the Economy and the Society afloat. The massive Reverse Migration trends across the Nation saw a colossal influx of labourers back to their native villages, which are primarily agriculture-based rural localities. CSIR-CMERI’s Farming Technology Arm i.e. Centre of Excellence in Farm Machinery (CoEFM), Ludhiana, and its dedicated organ the Centre for Precision & Conservation Farming Machinery (CPCFM) is a hub for intensive brain-storming and consequent development of Farm Mechanization Technologies using Sustainable Technology Design and Modelling to achieve Precise Impact and Maximum Conservation of scanty resources.

Farm Mechanization and Agricultural Technologies can be adequately complemented by Post-Harvesting Technologies. These Post-Harvesting Technologies can play the role of extending the shelf-life of the Agricultural Produce and facilitate the expansion of its application arena. The CSIR-CMERI developed Post-Harvesting Technologies has already positively influenced the lives of over 50000 beneficiaries (https://drive.google.com/file/d/12j_whWfa2iA79qTJcVfo0pATQfYKgDFM/view) in the North-eastern states of Manipur and Mizoram. Read the full Blog post on Post-Harvest Technologies (https://csircmeri.blogspot.com/2020/08/post-harvest-technologies-for.html).

CSIR-CMERIs’ Farm Mechanization R&D policy is influenced by Market Articulation and Translation of Market-Demand. Indian Agriculture can make rapid strides towards Productivity and Prosperity, if backed up by Advanced Farm Mechanization Technologies. Understanding the practical lacunas in farming practices across the diverse geographical landscape and thereafter developing Innovative Tools for plugging those loopholes is approach adopted by CSIR-CMERI. The Farm Mechanization Technologies are intended for a variety of beneficiaries i.e. the Marginalised Farmers, Farmers with Small Land-Holdings, Large-Scale Farmers. Besides, the technologies being modular are diversiform in nature and thus can help orient the farming community towards achieving profound improvisation in productivity statistics.

The Technology Prototypes are also rigorously tested for a variety of factors at the state-of-the-art Testing Facilities of the Centre namely soil bin for testing of soil working tools, Planter Calibration cum Testing Rig, Small Field Laboratory along with inspection of manufacturing quality using Portable CMM and 3D scanning facility and the existing NABL accredited Metrology Lab. Establishment of an Advanced Farm Machinery Testing Centre is also being conceptualised at CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur.

Government’s thrust towards promotion of Farm Mechanization to boost productivity can be gauged from the numerous Subsidy Schemes for the Farmers so that Output is not compromised owing to lack of resources. Some CSIR-CMERI developed Farm Mechanisation Technologies have been enlisted in some of the standard Government Farming Schemes. Availing these Subsidy Schemes by the farmers would help them gain access to Productivity Multiplication Technologies alongside drastically reducing Input Costs. M/s Singha Components Pvt. Ltd., Howrah, a Technology Partner of CSIR-CMERI for the Krishi Shakti Tractor, is empanelled in the website agrimachinery.nic.in, as a business entity, entitled for Subsidy from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, Government of India.

The CSIR-CMERI’s Renewable Energy Initiatives were conceptualised and developed with a special emphasis towards its application in the domain of Agriculture. The CSIR-CMERI developed Solar Trees are a perfect specimen of such a technology, which augment the vertical, instead of the horizontal, space for harnessing Solar Energy. This will help in saving maximum horizontal land area usage and can play a crucial role in providing complete Energy Sufficiency for the marginal farmers with small farm-holdings. The Solar Trees (https://csircmeri.blogspot.com/search/label/Solar%20Tree) might also promote farming in remote access areas, since they would facilitate power generation even in the remotest and the most undue terrains, for Farming Applications. The CSIR-CMERI developed Bio-Gas Plant and Bio-Mass Briquetting technologies can also be an appropriate Energy Alternative for the farming communities in a sustainable manner. The Bio-Mass Briquetting Technology uses redundant materials such as dry grass, dry leaves etc. to prepare Briquettes, which can be used as a substitute for cooking fuel.

Farm Operation	Product	Actual view	Motivation behind the development	Bench Marking	Technology Partners
Planting	Precision Planter – for direct seeding of vegetable seeds into a optimum plant population		Increasing the input use efficiency (low seed requirement) with precision in seed placement. Also, removing farm drudgery due to manual seeding/ transplanting	Only Precision Planter available in India for direct seeding of vegetables. Tested at Indian Agricultural Research Institute and demonstrated at various farmers’ fields.	1. M/s Parmjot Industries, Ludhiana 2. M/s C. J. Enterprises, Ludhiana 3. M/s Ashlyn Chemunnoor Instruments (P) Ltd., Thrissur
Inter-row operation	Inter-row rotary cultivator – for weeding, earthing and fertilization		Removing drudgery due to manual weeding operation and reduce cultivation cost. Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIcZX_9PtiI	Bench marked with imported rotary tillers. Improved easy row spacing adjustment and tilling width to cater various wide-row crops. Recommended by PAU, Ludhiana for Punjab Package of Practices.	1. M/s Maghar Singh Matharoo & Sons, Ludhiana 2. M/s Nascent Agrimach, Ludhiana 3. M/s Raftaar Professional Engineering Company, Ludhiana
Inter-row operation	Offset rotavator – for inter-row and intra-row tillage of orchards		Mechanization of orchards, better intercultural operations without damaging tree trunks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJv47iu7lEg	Bench marked with imported offset rotary tillers. Wider working space to increase field capacity and efficiency. Evaluated and Recommended by PAU, Ludhiana and GBPUA&T, Pantnagar for Punjab & Uttarakhand Package of Practices.	---
Irrigation	Irrigation Scheduler – for optimum scheduling of water		No access to assured grid power availability in rural areas results in untimely irrigation. Automating the process coupled with the power availability for pumping can assure water availability to crops.	Bench marked with Advanced irrigation controllers installed at CPCT, IARI, New Delhi and results showed comparable performance for pressurized irrigation systems.	1. M/s Raftaar Professional Engineering Company, Ludhiana
Harvesting	Cotton picking head – for mechanical picking of cotton bolls		Major production cost is spent on picking of cotton bolls and mainly women & children are engaged in this laborious and drudgerous operation. Video Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnoUYsVBrdI	Tested by CICR, Nagpur for picking efficiency of the developed Picking head.	Being developed into a complete picker with Industry.
Harvesting	Mentha Harvester - for harvesting of menth a and windrowing it for easy collection		Efficient harvesting of mentha crop with ease, reduce the drudgery, avoid snakes (due to mentha smell) during harvesting.	Exhaustively tested by CIMAP, Lucknow for both rear mounted and front mounted system.	---
General Purpose cum Agricultural Tractor	Small Tractor ''Krishishakti'' - for tillage, haulage and other general purpose		Indigenously developed, affordable for small farmers for its low price and operating cost. Having low turning radius which helps in manoeuvrability to increase the efficiency of cultivating small lands. Video Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4846cpsCp9k		1. M/s. Singha Components Pvt. Ltd., Howrah 2. M/s. K N Biosciences Pvt. Ltd. Hyderabad

Currently, CSIR-CMERI has multiple projects on Farm Mechanization and a dedicated team of Scientists are incessantly working towards achieving excellence in Advanced Farm Mechanization Technologies. Some of the major projects are Creation of Basic Agricultural Implements Testing Facility (Dr. Subrata Mandal), Design and integration of drive train layout using 4kW and 10kW electric motor for traction applications in farm machinery (Mr. Avinash Kr Yadav), Development of Bare-Root Seedling Singulation System and Automatic Seedling Transplanter For Stevia (Mr. Gurlovleen Singh), AI based methodology for grading machine Harvested tea leaves (Dr. Pradeep Rajan), Design and Development of Retractable-Roof Poly House (Mr. Jagdish M), Design and development of compact utility Tractor-For socio-economic uplift of marginal and small farmers (Dr. Subrata Mandal), Socio-economic upliftment of rural tribal people of the state of Mizoram through appropiate science and technology interventions--- A CSIR-CMERI initiatives (Dr. Subrata Mandal), Centre for Precision & Conservation Farming Machinery (CPCFM) (Dr. Pradeep Rajan) and Development of Bio-fuel value chain for sustainable energy-Govt of Punjab, Forest Department (Dr. Krishnendu Kundu). The other major projects involve development of a Multiple Picking Chilli Harvester able to pick at Ripened Stage, Variable rate Fertilizer Application, Efficient Straw Management System (SMS) and Spading Machine.

The next major leap of CSIR-CMERI in the Farm Mechanization paradigm is towards the development of Electronic Farming Vehicles such as the e-Tractors and e-Power Tillers. The Solar Trees would create a complete Power Cycle Ecologically, as it would feed the Water pumps, e-Tractors and e-Power Tillers for a comprehensive and independent Agricultural System. The CSIR-CMERI Waste Water Reuse technologies can come into play here for reusing Waste Water and after differential treatment the same can be deployed for a vast range of applications.