Impact of farm mechanization on rice cultivation of Bargarh District

Abstract

The study was conducted to analyze the impact of farm mechanization on rice cultivation in Bargarh district of Odisha. Personal interview method was used to collect primary data using pre-tested structured interview schedules from 120 sample farmers. Multistage sampling technique was followed for selection of sample farmers. Farm budgeting and Garrett ranking techniques were used to analyze the collected data. The study revealed that, in case of manual cultivation of rice in the study area, a total of 35.65 man days of man labour, 22.84 days of woman labour and 2.96 pair days of bullock labour and 3.57 hours of machine labour were utilized. The need of human labour is more in traditional farming the semi-mechanical farming. The average yield per acre of manual and semi-mechanical cultivation was found to be 23.50 quintals and 24.75 quintals, respectively. The net returns per acre for rice cultivation for traditional rice growers and adopters of mechanical harvesting was found to be Rs. 13190.45 and Rs. 17613.91 leading to returns to cost ratios of 1.70 and 2.07, respectively. The major constraints faced by the owners of machines in semi-mechanical cultivation of Rice were high cost of the machines, non-availability of financial support and fluctuations in area under the crop.