Programmes and trends of farm mechanization in West Bengal, India Sarkar Debashis*, Roy Debajit** *Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan **Agro-Economic Research Centre, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan Online published on 7 June, 2014. Abstract The present study intends to review on the mechanization programmes and trends of mechanization in West Bengal. It has been observed that farm mechanization in India in general and West Bengal in particular has not progressed as desired although presently India is the top producer of four wheeled tractors with growing exports to markets like USA. In West Bengal there are no major manufacturing centers for farm equipment. However, like any other States, there are plenty of roadside shops catering to the general maintenance of tractors/power tillers etc. Besides, there is a need to establish specialized centres for imparting training on post-harvest technologies for on-farm value addition. It has been observed that in case of cost of cultivation of major crops in West Bengal the operational costs are lower than value of production but total costs are higher, except in case of mustard. As such, it comes out that except for potato, costs of machinery has grown much faster than costs of bullock labour, human labour as well as value of production. This perceivably acts as a major constraint in the spread of mechanization of farming in the cultivation of crops like paddy, wheat and mustard. The study suggests that mechanization of selected operations must be promoted to enhance productivity and produce operational drudgery. The government should not, as a policy matter, discourage farm mechanization with a false pre-conceived notion of labour displacement. To encourage the use of farm machinery, a policy of insurance for users and credit facilities for farmers and entrepreneurs need to be introduced at low premium and interest rates. Top Keywords Farm mechanization, programmes, trends, policies of farm mechanization. Top |