Product 

Description: 
The  other  familiar  name  of  agricultural  mechanization  service  is  rental  service  of 
agricultural  machinery,  equipments,  tools  and  technical  advices.  These services include the
provision of modern agricultural machinery and equipment for ploughing, harvesting,
processing, transporting and storing on rental basis and the acquisition of technical  know-how 
through  technical  advices  by  paying  fees  for  advisors.  Services  that  are provided  through 
agricultural  mechanization  are  substitutes  for  mechanization  of  farms  and  other 
agricultural  activities  performed  by  owning  the machinery  and  equipment. These  types  of 
services  enable  farmers  to  use modern  farm machinery  and  equipment with out burdening 
each  farmer  or  group  of  farmers  in  owning  expensive  farm  machinery  and  equipment. 

Agricultural  mechanization  services  reduce  farming  time  and  enable  farmers  to plow, 
harvest  and  store  their  farm  produce  in  optimal  periods  of  each  season  thereby 
increasing  productivity  and  production  volume.  These  agricultural  machinery  rental  centers
could also have middle level technical advisors who will consult farmers on the different
activities of farming and livestock raising.

The consultation will be done with the payment of reasonable fees.  The  main  advantage  of 
these  rental  centers  to  farmers  is,  they  enable  group  of  farmers  with  adjacent  farms  to 
rent  (in  group)  agricultural  machinery  such  as  a tractor  for  plowing  the  adjacent  farms  as 
a  unit.  This  will  reduce  the  rental  cost  for  each  farmer  and  will  also  minimize  the 
operation  expenses  of  the  farm  mechanization  service center.

Market Potential:
More than 3 million hectares of land in the Amhara Region is under cultivation. Under normal
conditions, One tractor plows about 10 hectares per day. For one cycle of plowing, 300,000
tractor-days are needed to plow the 3 million hectares of  farm  lands of the Region. This is the
highest potential demand  for tractor services in the Region. But  many  farms  in  the  Region 
are  too  steep  and/or  too  rugged  for  using  tractors  for  plowing. 

In  addition  many  other  farms  are  also  filled  with  small  and  big  boulders  which  make
them  unsuitable  for  tractor  plowing.  Given  these  unfavorable  conditions,  we  can  assume 
that  about  40  percent  of  farms  in  the  Region  are  suitable  for  tractor  plowing.

 This  means about  120,000  tractor-days  are  required  to  perform  one  cycle  of  plowing  in 
the  Region.  This  is  the  highest  realistic  potential  demand  for  tractor  rental  services.  

 Let  us  get  closer  to the ground and see  the potential zones of  the Region which will use 
tractor services with  the highest economic and  financial benefits. The  first candidates are most
parts of East and West  Gojjam  and  Awe  zones,  areas  around  Lake  Tana  in  North  and 
South  Gondar  Zones  and  West  Gojjam,  some  valley  plains  in  North  and  South  Wollo 
zones,  and  the  highland platen of North Shewa. 
These areas of the Amhara Region can have sufficient demand for agricultural machinery rental
services which will make the center financially viable.

“Source  of  raw  material”: 

This  project  idea  deals  with  the  provision  of  services  and  as  such  it  does  not  require 
the  use  of  “raw  materials”.  However,  the  main  inputs  for  the provision of the services will
be working hours of the various types of agricultural machinery and equipment to be rented/hired
by clients..

“Process and Technology”:- 

The main  process  or  activities  for  providing  agricultural machinery  rental  services  are 
establishing  the  center,  constructing machinery  shades  and  a small  repair  and  maintenance 
workshop,  purchasing  the  most  important  pieces  of  machinery  and  equipment  (such  as 
tractors,  harvesters…),  developing  and  implementing  an effective and appropriate marketing
strategy and finally providing dependable machinery rental services.

Estimated  Investment: 
For  a  rental  center  which  will  have  about  10  tractors  one  harvesters  and  other  assorted 
type  of  agricultural  implements  and  tools,  the  estimated

investment requirement will be:-

Buildings/shades 300 m2 at Birr 2000/m2      = Birr      600,000

Agricultural Machinery ………………………       = Birr    2,500,000

Working capital……………………………….          = Birr       500,000

                                                             Total    = Birr   3,600,000

Benefits: 
Enables  farmers  to  perform  agricultural  activities  on  optimal  periods  of  the  various 
farming  cycles,  increases  agricultural  productivity  and  production,  releases  farmers

from some farm work and creates the opportunity to work on other income generating activities,
decreases the need of oxen for plowing and increases the possibility of fattening and for sale.

Location:
East and West Gojam, Awi around Lake Tana, other areas of the Region suitable for large-scale
farm mechanization.

the uptake of agricultural mechanization in Ethiopia is low with less than one percent of agricultural
plots plowed with a tractor. However, in recent years the uptake of agricultural machinery has
accelerated.

Agricultural mechanization is the process whereby equipments, machineries and implements

are utilized to boost agricultural and food production. It is the application of machineries,
equipments and implements in the day to day farm activities to increase marginal output in food
production and poverty eradication.Jun 17, 2014

Benefits of Mechanization in Agriculture:

 Leads to improvement in Agricultural Technique. The improvements come in the area of

irrigation, land reclamation and the prevention of soil erosion. ...
 It Modifies Social Structure in Rural Areas. ...
 Introducing of Commercial Agriculture. ...
 Mitigate Farm Labor Shortage.

Impact of
In general, advances in machine system automation have increased productivity, increased
convenience, and reduced skilled labor requirements for complex tasks. Moreover, benefits have been
achieved in an economical way and increased overall TFP.

What are the effects of mechanisation?

One of the effects of mechanisation was to reduce the number of farm jobs available. When
this coincided with an economic downturn, such as when haymaking machinery was introduced
during the economic depression of the 1880s, the impact on workers was particularly severe

What was the impact of mechanism of agriculture on poor farmers?

Undoubtedly, farm mechanization displaced animal power from 60 to 100% but resulted in
less time for farm work. Also mechanization led to increase in the human labour employment
for the on-farm and off-farm activities as a result of manufacture, repair, servicing and sales of
tractors and improved farm equipment.

What is the importance of farm machinery?

To expand operations, farmers can invest in machines & its maintenance instead of paying
salaries to workers, thus hastening the production. 7. Farm machinery improves the quality of
goods and boosts agricultural & food production in the market

PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF FARM

MECHANIZATION
iboiosi (50)
in #farms • 4 years ago (edited)

MEANING OF AGRlCULTURAL MECHANISATION

Farm mechanisation is the application of engineering principles and technology in agricultural

production, storage and processing on the farm.

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Farm mechanisation is applicable to land preparation, planting, fertilizer application, weeding

and crop harvesting, rearing, caring and feeding of animals as well as processing and storage of
farm produce, using appropriate farm machinery.

PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL MECHANISATION

Land tenure system: The type of land tenure system (communual) does not allow for large farm
holdings suitable for mechanisation.
Scattered farm holdings: Scattered farm holdings are also not conducive or economical for
mechanisation, especially in West Africa.

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Poverty of farmers: Most farmers, especially in West Africa are very poor and cannot afford the
cost of tractors and farm implements.

Inadequate facilities (machinery): The facilities or machinery for fabricating and repairing farm
implements are grossly insufficient where they are available.

Bad topography: The topography of most West African landscape is too rough and unconducive
for farm mechanisation.

Varied soil types: Soil types are extremely varied and the machines to use on them have not been
developed locally. West African countries, Nigeria for instance, still depend on imported
machinery which is not too suitable for our soil.

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Inadequate spare parts: Availability of spare parts is amaj or problem as these parts are still
being imported.

Inadequate technical manpower: Available technical manpower to operate or service the

implements and machines is not adequate.

Problems of stumps and logs: During clearing, heavy stumps and logs are usually left behind,
and they constitute additional problems in mechanisation.

ADVANTAGES OF AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION

Farm mechanisation has the following advantages:

(i) Timeliness of operation: Farm mechanisation ensures that all farm Operations are done and
completed within a short period of time.

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(ii) It saves labour: In farm mechanisation, most human efforts are substituted with machines.
Hence, labour saved could be employed elsewhere.
(iii) It reduces health hazards: Farm mechanisation reduces health hazards. These include those
posed by knives, hoe, stumps, pest, etc.

(iv) It reduces drudgery: Farm mechanisation makes it easy to avoid unpleasant manual jobs.

(v) Increase in farm revenue: As a result of mechanisation, farmers become richer due to high
yield.

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(vi) It encourages large scale farming: Farmers are capable of working on large farms and,
hence, reap heavy harvest.

(vii) Increase in output: Mechanisation makes it possible for farmers to have increase in output
(production, harvest or yield).

(viii) It promotes specialisation of labour: 211Farm mechanisation enables people to become

specialised in certain operations within the farm.

(ix) Co-operation among farmers: Mechanisation enables many farmers to come together and
pool their resources together, thereby promoting or encouraging coODeration among farmers.

(x) It saves time: Mechanization translates quickly the products of man's brain into reality.

(xi) Reduction in cost of operation: Mechanisation leads to reduction in the cost of agricultural
operation per unit output.

DISADVANTAGES OF AGRICULTURAL MECHANISATION

Farm mechanisation has the following disadvantages:

(i) High cost: Farm mechanisation, due to the numerous machines involved usually expensive to
operate.

(ii) Displacement of workers: In farm mechanisation, very few workers are required; hence,
many people will be out of job when mechanisation is introduced.

(iii) Compaction of soil: Mechanisation leads to compaction of soil due to the movement of
heavy machines.

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(iv) It causes environmental pollution: Mechanisation causes environ-mental pollution due to
smokes emanating from machines, chemicals and fertilizer usage.

(v) Degradation of landscape: Mechani-sation ensures the degradation of landscape as a result of

continuous excarvation. .

(vi) Land tenure system: Land tenure system may hinder efficient use of tractors due to small
holdings of farmlands.

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(vii) Destruction of soil structure: The soil structure can easily be destroyed due to continuous
movements and usage of machines.

(viii) Redundancy of farm labour: With farm machines working on the farm, the work can easily
be completed and this situation can create redundancy in farm labour.

(ix) Few crops can be mechanised: Very few crops like maize, rice, guinea corn, millet, etc. can
easily be mechanised.

(x) Inadequate technical know-how: There is always inadequate technical know-how on the use
and handling of the farm machines and equipment.