Assessment of agricultural mechanization status in rice production and its challenges in the western Nepal

Abstract

There is a difference of 45% to 55% between the attainable yield and the potential yield of rice. This gap may be due to insufficient inputs and poor mechanization status. In this regard, agricultural mechanization is of the utmost importance to obtain satisfactory yield. This study was conducted to determine mechanization level, power per unit area, probit regression, and challenges faced by farmers to understand the mechanization status in rice cultivation. For this, 98 households in the Pyuthan municipality of Pyuthan district and 87 households in the Bhimdutta municipality of Kanchanpur district were selected using a simple random sampling method. The highest mechanization level was found in the main field tillage (90.92%), followed by threshing (85.24%), the seedbed tillage (52.42%), and irrigation (20.10%). Mechanization is lacking in transplantation, bund preparation, fertilizer application, weeding, and harvesting. Power per unit area was found to be 4.67 hp/ha. Age and family size have a negative impact while male household heads have a positive impact on mechanized tillage and threshing, both statistically significant at a 5% level. The unavailability of farm machinery and land fragmentation were the major challenges in the adoption of farm mechanization. The mechanization status in the study areas is not satisfactory, thus, the strict policy against land fragmentation, dissemination of extension services at the grass root level, and the provision of subsidies for required farm machinery could help the improvement of mechanization status in rice production in Nepal.