Indian agriculture, the second largest in terms of area, has the tremendous responsibility of catering to the needs of the eighteen percent population and 15 per cent of the livestock population on this planet. India currently faces the challenge of meeting the food demands of the country with limited resources. This puts forth the proposition of increasing more output per unit area with limited inputs. Indian farming, a decade ago, was input intensive amassing its strength from the number of working hands which were available due to the high rates of unemployment and illiteracy. Most of the operations derived its power from livestock and were carried out manually by local implements. Farm machines were restricted to certain pockets and a few of the agricultural operations.
Farm Mechanization is very crucial for today’s agriculture. With the availability of farm labour declining and their wages increasing, farm operations have turned expensive calling for mechanical intervention. India has started to open its door to farm machines and implements with government assisted subsidy schemes and Custom hiring facilities. Besides this, several machines have been manufactured according to the socio economic and agro ecological situations existing of India. With the focused attention on increasing farm incomes, agri mechanization is going to receive further boost as they are known to reduce farm drudgery, increase farm productivity and hence farm profits. International Conference on Farm Mechanization organized by ICFA thus becomes the ideal platform for the stakeholders to discuss the issues, growth opportunities and explore possibilities of enhancing farm mechanization in the country.
The Conference aims at achieving the following specific objectives:
