Conservation Agriculture Machinery: Research Advances and Contributions towards ‘Make in India’ Singh Sidhu Harminder1, Singh Manpreet2, Kumar Lohan Shiv2, Jat R.K.1, Jat M.L.3* 1Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), Ludhiana, Punjab 2Punjab Agricultural UniversityLudhiana, Punjab 3International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), New Delhi *Corresponding author, Email: m.jat@cgiar.org
Online published on 22 March, 2022. Abstract Conservation agriculture (CA) system is increasingly adopted to meet the goals of sustainable crop production intensification in feeding growing global population whilst conserving natural resources. Mechanization is a key input for CA. Satisfactory progress has been made in developing and evaluation of a number of CA machines such as laser land leveller, no till drill, Turbo Happy Seeder, multi-crop planters, and relay seeders - all suited to major cropping systems in India. There is however, a need for further refinement in the machinery for CA to increase efficiency to adapt to diverse soil and climatic conditions, particularly for smallholders and rainfed cropping systems. Smallholders of the country often face problems in making the necessary investments. As a long-term solution for smallholders farmers of the country, who often fails to make necessary investments, supply-chain needs for locally manufactured machinery with service back-up support should be built up to continue availability at affordable price. It is important to equip and train CA custom service providers. With the right equipment in meeting the needs of the local farmers, and the right technical and business management training, such custom service providers can make a livelihood by supplying high quality CA and other mechanization services at the door step of smallholders on affordable rent. Training / testing of CA equipment design, development of multi-tasking equipment and latest manufacturing techniques will certainly help the growth of agricultural machinery industry to achieve the mission “Make In India” Top Keywords CA mechanization, custom service providers, multi-crop planters, smallholders, training needs, Turbo happy seeder. Top |