An Evaluation of tractor power to Indian agriculture
Date
1952
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
After more than a century of British rule, India
gained her independence on August 15, 1947. The Republic
of India was formally inaugurated on January 26, 1950.
India has an area of 1,281,410 square miles and a
population1 of 361 million - the average density of population
being 282 per square mile as compared to 750 in
England, 426 in Japan and 50 in the United States. The
country is riCh in natural resources, but the population
is largely poor.
According to the latest official figures1 the total
area under cultivation is about 307 million acres and an
additional area of about 93 million acres is lying uncultivated
due to Kans infestation, bad drainage and lack of
power and communications. At present the net area sown
annually is about 266 million acres, the rest (41 million
acres) is left fallow. About seventy percent of the population
is engaged in agricultural pursuits, still there is
a shortage of food for the population. The present production2
of cereals in India is about 45 million tons, which
falls short of the population requirements on a minimum
nutritional standard by about 5 million tons.
The chief cause of the food shortage in India is
that although she gained 82 percent of the population or
the undivided subcontinent at the time of partition in 1947,
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she was given only 65 percent of the wheat growing areas
and 68 percent of the rice growing areas. While the population
has been increasing, the production of food has not
increased proportionately and had been affected by such
natural calamities as floods or drought. Also, during
the years of foreign rule, India remained in a backward
state in agriculture, as well as in other fields. The yield
per acre is nearly the lowest in the world. This is the
result of unreliability of water supply - only 49 million
aeres of cultivated land has controlled irrigation facilities,
the rest being dependent on weather, and unscientific
and primitive methods of farming.
The majority of farmers still use the wooden implements
as used by their forefathers. As a result, the production
per worker in India. is nearly the lowest in the world. It
appears that perhaps power available for agricultural operations
has been one of the important limiting factors or agricultural
production in India. It has also now been widely
recognized that bullock power is not the adequate form of
farm power for Indian conditions and as such there has been
a great deal of attention towards the introduction of tractors
in the last six years. This thesis is written to
evaluate the use of tractors as a power unit for India.
Before the World War II, large farms owned by landlords,
sugar factory estates and government experimental
farms were the only farms using tractors. The conditions
have since changed and the farmers are showing increased
interest in the use of better farm machinery. They are
finding then to prepare better seed beds and relieve hard
labour, which has resulted in greater yields per acre.
In the early postwar period about 250 army machines
such as caterpillar bull-dozers and tractors were the first
to be adopted by the government for land reclamation work.
In 1947, after the partition of the country, an increased
interest developed in the use of tractors for agriculture.
Also, due to the shortage of food grains, the Indian government
faced the vital and immediate problem of making India
self-sufficient with regards to food grains. In order to
cover the food shortage, the central government of India
immediately launched a "Grow more Foodn programme.
The reclamation of potentially fertile land lying uncultivated
was started by means of large tractors. Also
under the influence of publicity, considerable amount of
interest was aroused among people in the use of tractors
to cultivate as much land as possible. In the last five
years the progress in mechanization has been quite rapid,
in as much as it has led to the suggestion that tractors
can be profitably introduced in Indian Agriculture.
The American tractors have made a tremendous contribution
in the advancement of America during the last thirty
years. These tractors were not used in India to any great
extent in the past due to the unavailability of American
tractors, service facilities and spare parts. The reason
appears to be the lack of attention of American manufacturers
where Britain had the monopoly due to political domination.
The second world war changed the complete picture due to
the increased American manufacturers production. This has
eventually compelled them to seek market in India, where
tractors are being introduced for agricultural work.
Most of the tractors, which are used in North America,
are now on sale in India. These tractors have hardly been
tested in India with respect to their tractive performance
and suitability. This thesis includes a combined report on
the tractive performance and power development of tractors,
so that they may be successfully appraised as a power unit
in India.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)
Department
College of Agriculture
Program
College of Agriculture