Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Parshottam Rupala, said that the government is committed to promote the use of additional farm machinery in the coming years to achieve improvement in awareness about diverse utilization of mechanization and credit support so that access to latest technologies is not a constraint.
Speaking at ‘EIMA AGRIMACH 2019’, organized by FICCI, jointly with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rupala said that tractors dominate the Indian farm mechanization market and only 10-15% is contributed by rest of the farming equipment. He said, “This is due to lack of information about the advantages in using other equipment and practices in terms of productivity and yield, and operative challenges".
Rupala said capacity building of local manufacturers in terms of quality and production would not only produce better equipment but also let them gain access to a larger market. He pointed out that sustainable mechanization technologies need to be developed and promoted to address the challenges associated with crop residue burning.
Ashwani Kumar, Joint Secretary, (Seeds/Mechanization & Technology), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare said that in order to support small manufacturers at the district level, the government is providing training to these manufacturers so that they can also access and benefit from the latest technology.
Alessandro Liberatori, Trade Commissioner, Italian Trade Agency said that India and Italy have strong bilateral trade relations and more and more Italian companies are investing in India, especially in the agriculture sector. He added that Italy will focus on developing newer customized technologies and support the Indian agriculture sector.
G S Grewal, Member, FICCI National Agriculture Committee, and Senior VP, Kubota Agricultural Machinery said that mechanization in India is growing rapidly but we still have a long way to go. “It is time that we move from ‘tractorization’ to ‘mechanization’."
Alessandro Malavolti, President, FEDERUNACOMA, Italy said that mechanization is not only important to increase productivity but it is also important to combat the problems of climate change.
The three-day exhibition (5-7 December) will witness over 300+ exhibitions, 350+ international buyers along with 20,000 + farmer delegation.
FICCI-PwC report ‘Farm mechanization: Ensuring a sustainable rise in farm productivity and income’ was also released during the event.
