Technology for Sustainability

Abstract

Introduction The production and productivity in Indian agriculture cannot be enhanced by primitive and traditional practices of farming. The average farm size in India is small (1.08 ha) and small and marginal land holdings (less than 2.0 ha) account for 86% of land holdings. The population dynamics shows that by the year 2047, the population of agricultural workers in the country will be about 202 million (26% of total workers) of which 60% will be the female workers. With continued shrinkage in average farm size, more farms will fall into the adverse category thereby making individual ownership of agricultural machinery progressively more uneconomical.