Status of Farm Mechanization in Himachal Pradesh vis-à-vis India and its Role in Increasing Farm Incomes

This paper has studied the extent of farm mechanization in the state of Himachal Praesh and has compared the state scenario with national scenario. It has also examined the role of mechanization in reducing costs and hence, enhancing farm incomes. The study has revealed that the landholdings in the state are highly scattered and the adoption of farm mechanization is quite low. The use of electricity in agriculture, as a proportion of total energy sold, is around one per cent in Himachal Pradesh, whereas it is quite high in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Though the sale of power tillers registered a very high growth at 12.27 per cent per annum during the study period, 2004–05 to 2014–15, yet it lost momentum after 2011–12. The use of power tiller led to the reduction of production cost to the tune of about 95 per cent and 208 per cent over hired bullock pair and owned bullock pair, respectively for land preparation and sowing purposes. The study has clearly shown out that it is profitable to use hired power tiller as against owning and/or hiring bullocks. This calls for more efforts, especially in the mountainous states, where power tillers can play a crucial role in the agricultural development. Hence, to boost commercial farming in the hilly regions, more stress has to be on high technology, precision, labour-saving, farm machinery and tools.