The festival season is here, and Indians love to buy new things during this season also because it is considered auspicious. And likewise many farmers plans to buy new tractors etc amid the showering discounts and special interest rates. But in the name of mechanization, buying a tractor is sulking the farmers under debt. Since 1993-94, the phase of mechanization, import of heavy duty machines and tractors etc started to flood the country which somehow made us all feel, having an agricultural field is synonymous of having farm machines, and if you don’t have it, you are missing something. But is this the real picture? How much do we need a tractor at the farms, if the farmer has to nearly hang himself to repay the loan?
If a tractor is being used for 1000 to 1200 hours it is considered beneficial, but if we have at least 400 to 500 hours of work, how much is it useful even at the first place. Before purchasing a tractor, with little understanding of the economy, at present, a tractor of 6 lakhs, 2 lakhs trolley and 1.5 lakhs of cedillery, would together cost around 10 lakhs. If a farmer takes loan of 10 lacs on interest, he/she will have to pay an interest of Rs 1 lakh to 1.20 lakh a year, and the loss of the machine at the rate of another 10% is reduced or the decrease in price of the tractor. So, the farmer has to pay off interest of Rs 1 lakh per annum as well as maintenance of around 50 thousand for diesel etc.
If you add all the expenses, it costs Rs 2.5 to 2.8 lakh to buy a tractor loan. So in this manner, 10 years of farming is only dedicated to the bank and the tractor company. If there is ever a bad crop in between, then there is no way to cope.
Instead of buying a small farmer's tractor, a farmer from the village who has a tractor can get the full farm work of 50 thousand to 1 lakh in that cost. Second, Sharing the service of such machine, the farmers with tractors get separate work which can cover their expenditure. Saving the mechanic, farmer and the owner from plight. Therefore, proper thinking is needed before buying a tractor and the government should immediately decide its policy on it, the farmer who does not have 70% of the amount should not be given a tractor.