Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Mechanization covers all levels of farming and processing technologies, from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated and motorized equipment. It eases and reduces hard labour, relieves labour shortages, improves productivity and timeliness of agricultural operations, improves the efficient use of resources, enhances market access and contributes to mitigating climate related hazards. Sustainable mechanization considers technological, economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects when contributing to the sustainable development of the food and agricultural sector.

Farming systems that save and grow

Sustainable rice-wheat production. The system involves the planting of wheat after rice using a tractor-drawn seed drill, which seeds directly into unploughed fields with a single pass. It permits earlier planting, helps control weeds and has significant resource conservation benefits, including reduced use of diesel fuel and irrigation water.

Publications

Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization. A Framework For Africa

This framework presents ten interrelated principles/ elements to guide Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). Further, it presents the technical issues to be considered under SAMA and the options to be analysed at the country and sub regional levels. The analysis in the framework calls...

Hire services as a business enterprise: A training manual for small-scale mechanization service providers

This manual is specifically designed to help train actual and potential farm mechanization service providers, in order to increase access to sustainable farm power to raise the productivity of smallholder farmers. It focuses on two crucial aspects: the provision of...

Agricultural mechanization. A key input for sub-Saharan African smallholders.

This publication is part of the Integrated Crop Management series, and it focuses specifically on agricultural mechanization, the opportunities provided by mechanization for intensifying production in a sustainable manner, value addition and food systems development, and the inherent opportunities implied...