The Division is providing technical and policy advice on strategies and methodologies for appropriate agricultural mechanization interventions. Agricultural mechanization is a vital input to agricultural production that should be accessible to farmers through, principally, private sector managed input supply chains. The roles of the private sector and Government need to be defined for each country or region concerned. The purpose of an Agricultural Mechanization Strategy for a specific country is to create the policy, institutional and market environment in which farmers and users of mechanization inputs have sustained access to a choice of tools, equipment and machinery that would suit their needs within the envisaged sustainable delivery and support systems.

Agricultural Mechanization interventions related to agricultural production should be considered under the umbrella of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) approaches. In SLM, environmental conservation and natural resource management have priority, alongside the market driven commercialization of agriculture. The Conservation Agriculture concept is an example for farm mechanization in line with sustainable land management.

Special emphasis is given to sustaining and improving the livelihoods of asset-poor farmers, especially women farmers and vulnerable households with scarce labour resources. The Division provides decision support and guidelines for Labour Saving Technologies for this specific target group.

For information about project support for FAO, Please contact your local FAO representative or write to
AGS-registry@fao.org