Can Farm Mechanization Connect Agricultural and Nutritional Outcomes in India? — Conceptual Framework and Empirics

The paper has analysed whether mechanization-led agricultural growth can result in better nutritional outcomes? After synthesis on available concepts on agricultural and nutritional nexus, the paper has provided alternate pathways on agricultural and nutritional interlinkages based on increased use of farm mechanization. This conceptual framework has been supplemented with empirical analysis across states in India and from consultations with stakeholders (farmers) across 20 villages in north India (viz., Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh). The stakeholders’ perspectives have been taken on the nutritional outcome of farm mechanizationled agricultural growth, and role of household income in shaping the agricultural and nutritional connect. The study has illustrated the role of farm machinery in income growth through saving on time allocation for farm work. The income effect based pathways is still a neglected topic in the literature on agricultural–nutrition connect. The study may help in convergence of the debates on agricultural and nutritional connect.