Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T5-40P-1711
Small Scale Farm Mechanization: An Archangle to Climate Resilient
Agriculture
M. V. Tiwari, V. K. Poshia, and P. D. Verma
KVK, Navsari Agricultural University, Dediapda, Gujarat
In rural India, the percentage of women who depend on agriculture for their livelihood is as
high as 84%. Women make up about 33% of cultivators and about 47% percent of agricultural
labourers. Women Farmers are those who work in acres, not in hours, they don’t work till the
sun gets down, but they surely work till the job gets done. Agricultural machines and equipment
are mostly made by male mechanics. Adjustment is often needed to make it suitable for women
farmers due to their body size, physical strength and limited experiences of using them.
Women do the most tedious and back-breaking tasks in agriculture, animal husbandry and at
homes. Their contribution is very high in farm sector as they are involved in most of the farm
operations and are, therefore, subjected to extra harsh conditions of work that lead to drudgery.
It is generally felt that the available agricultural machineries are not women friendly as they
are not designed taking into consideration the women’s ergonomic measurements. There exists
a gap between design engineers and farm planners and the lack of women’s access to articulate
their felt needs. The result is that the women farmers must carry out various field operations
with the age-old hand tools or with their hands. The posture adopted during these operations
are not proper and lead to occupational health problems if not given due attention. It is thus
essential that the tools and implements for farm women are developed to suit their body
posture. In this direction, several agricultural implements and hand tools suitable for farm
women have been developed by various Institutes under ICAR. These gender-friendly tools are
required to be promoted and popularized among the farm women on a massive scale and these
tools are- Twin wheel hoe, paddy thresher, stalk puller, Milking stand& stool and so many with
the help of these tools they save their time, improve work efficiency and prove as a source of
income. The Central government is continuously working to strengthen the financial security
of farmers. Therefore, the government has released funds to different states for various
activities of farm mechanization. These include the establishment of custom hiring centers,
farm machinery banks, high-tech hubs and distribution of various agricultural machinery.
Methodology
A lot of improved machines are promoted for different agriculture operations in the country,
but all the machines are not suited to hilly geography of Narmada district. After all assessments,
some of the improved machines are described below which can be opted for this region in terms
of work efficiency improvement, KVK (Narmada, NAU) has taken one step ahead developed
a concept on reach tool center at village level with in 7 villages with set of 7 tools like as- 1.
787 | Page Emerging approaches (RS, AI, ML, Drones etc) for crop management &assessment