Last reviewed 1 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
What is farm mechanisation?
Farm mechanisation is the use of machines and mechanical power in place of human and animal labour in agricultural operations — from land preparation to harvesting and processing. It is a key input (with seeds, fertilisers and irrigation) in raising productivity.
Objectives
- Timeliness of operations (sowing and harvesting at the right moment).
- Increase productivity — better seed-bed, precise sowing and fertiliser placement; higher cropping intensity.
- Reduce drudgery and the cost of operations; save labour.
- Reduce losses (harvest, threshing, handling).
- Improve efficiency of inputs (seed, fertiliser, water, chemicals).
- Enable new practices — conservation tillage, precision farming, laser levelling.
- Improve the quality of life and attract youth to farming.
Advantages and limitations
| Advantages | Limitations |
|---|---|
| Timely, faster work; higher output per worker | High capital cost — beyond small farmers |
| Better quality of work (uniform depth and spacing) | Small and fragmented holdings (average about 1.1 ha) limit use |
| Reduced drudgery and labour dependence | Unemployment concerns in labour-surplus regions |
| Allows multiple cropping | Skilled operators and repair services are needed |
| Lower unit cost at scale; custom hiring spreads it | Fuel and maintenance costs; dependence on imports of some machines |
| Reduced post-harvest losses | Soil compaction, crop-residue management issues |
Status in India
- Power availability on Indian farms has grown from about 0.3 kW/ha (1960s) to about 2 kW/ha now (indicative; the target set for higher levels).
- India is the largest tractor market in the world by volume (sales of roughly 8–9 lakh a year in recent years; check the latest); tractor, power tiller, combine and thresher use is high in Punjab, Haryana, Western UP and low in the north-east and eastern states.
- Mechanisation levels vary by operation: high for land preparation, threshing, irrigation; moderate for sowing and plant protection; low for harvesting of many crops (paddy transplanting, cotton, vegetables).
- Policy support: Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) (subsidy on machines, Custom Hiring Centres, farm machinery banks), Kisan Drone support, state subsidy schemes; ICAR institutes (CIAE Bhopal; CIPHET Ludhiana; CIFM), Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institutes (Budni, Hisar, Anantapur, Biswanath Chariali), agricultural universities and BIS standards.
Levels of mechanisation
| Level | Description |
|---|---|
| Hand tools (spade, sickle, hoe) | Human power |
| Animal-drawn implements | Ploughs, seed drills, carts |
| Mechanised (tractor, engine) | Tractor-drawn and engine-powered machines |
| Automated | Sensors and control; precision agriculture, robots |
Classification of farm machines and implements
1. By source of power
| Class | Examples |
|---|---|
| Hand tools | Khurpi, spade, sickle, hand hoe, pickaxe |
| Animal-drawn | Wooden plough, desi plough, bullock-drawn seed drill |
| Tractor-drawn / mounted | Disc plough, cultivator, planter, harrow |
| Self-propelled | Combine harvester, rice transplanter, power tiller, self-propelled sprayer |
| Engine/motor-powered stationary | Thresher, pump, chaff cutter |
2. By the way of attachment to the tractor
| Class | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Drawn (trailed) | Pulled behind the tractor by a drawbar, with its own wheels | Disc harrow, trailers, large ploughs |
| Mounted | Fully carried on the tractor's three-point linkage; the tractor takes the weight | Mouldboard plough, cultivator, rotavator, seed drill |
| Semi-mounted | The front is carried on the tractor and the rear on wheels | Large ploughs, mowers |
| Self-propelled (integral) | Machine with its own engine and wheels/tracks | Combines |
| PTO-driven | Powered through the PTO shaft | Rotavator, mower, baler, sprayers |
3. By the operation performed
| Operation | Machines |
|---|---|
| Tillage (primary and secondary) | Ploughs, harrows, cultivators, rotavators, levellers |
| Sowing and planting | Seed drills, planters, transplanters, potato planters |
| Intercultural operations | Weeders, hoes, inter-row cultivators |
| Fertiliser application | Broadcasters, band placers, liquid applicators |
| Plant protection | Sprayers, dusters, drone sprayers |
| Irrigation | Pumps, sprinklers, drip, laser levellers |
| Harvesting | Reapers, mowers, combines, potato diggers, cotton pickers |
| Threshing and post-harvest | Threshers, shellers, winnowers, graders, dryers |
| Transport | Trailers, carts |
| Processing and handling | Mills, balers, chaff cutters |
4. By the nature of the work
- Primary tillage (deep, first working of the soil) — mouldboard, disc, chisel, sub-soiler, rotavator (primary use), ridgers.
- Secondary tillage (finer working, preparing the seed-bed) — harrows, cultivators, levellers, rotavators, planker (patela).
- Seeding and planting implements.
- Intercultural implements.
- Harvesting implements.
Tillage tools (overview)
| Tool | Action | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Mouldboard plough | Cuts, lifts, inverts and pulverises a furrow slice | Primary tillage; buries residue and weeds; 15–25 cm depth |
| Disc plough | Concave rotating discs cut and turn the soil | Hard, dry, stony, sticky or residue-covered soil |
| Chisel plough / sub-soiler | Shanks loosen the soil without inversion (to 25–60 cm) | Break hardpans, conservation tillage |
| Cultivator (tyne, spring-loaded) | Tynes with shovels loosen the soil | Secondary tillage, weeding |
| Disc harrow | Disc gangs cut and pulverise | Secondary tillage, residue incorporation |
| Rotavator (rotary tiller) | Rotating L-shaped blades powered by the PTO | Primary and secondary tillage in one pass; paddy puddling |
| Planker (leveller) | A flat board dragged over the soil | Levelling and clod crushing |
| Ridger / bund former | Forms ridges | Potato, sugarcane; irrigation channels |
Terms used in machine performance
- Draft (draught) — the horizontal component of the pull needed to move an implement (kN or kgf). For tillage tools: (soil specific resistance × width × depth) roughly, with soil resistance about 20–60 kN/m² (kPa) for ploughing.
- Width of cut (swath) — effective working width (m).
- Speed — working speed (km/h or m/s): ploughing 4–6 km/h, harrowing 5–8, sowing 3–5, spraying 4–8.
- Theoretical field capacity (TFC) — the area covered per hour if the machine worked continuously at 100 % of its width and speed:
- Effective (actual) field capacity (EFC):
where field efficiency accounts for turning at headlands, overlap, filling, stoppages and adjustments: typically ploughing 80–90 %, harrowing 75–85 %, seeding 60–75 %, spraying 55–70 %, combine harvesting 65–80 %, mower 75–85 %.
- Field efficiency ; time lost at headlands is the main factor.
- Time per hectare (h/ha).
- Material capacity (t/h) for machines like threshers and combines.
Worked ExampleExample — field capacity
A 3-bottom mouldboard plough with a width of cut of 0.30 m per bottom (total m) works at 5 km/h with a field efficiency of 82 %.
ha/h; . To plough 5 ha: (about two days of 7 working hours).