Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization

Examples

Work contributing to FAO's Strategic Programme 2
"Making agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable"

Indo-Gangetic Plains, South Asia

Traditionally, farmers levelled their fields using scrapers and wooden boards. Now, laser-guided tractors, operated by private contractors, offer more precise levelling of fields at prices smallholders can afford. The technology reduces water losses by as much as 40 percent, improves the efficiency of fertilizer, and boosts yields by from 5 to 10 percent. Read more...

Algeria
FAO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, is developing a national mechanization strategy.

Chad
In December 2017, FAO, in collaboration with the government and its ministries, held a consultative workshop for the development a national mechanization strategy. Read more...

Zambia
FAO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, is developing a national regional strategy on sustainable and climate-resilient intensification of cropping systems.

Work contributing to FAO's Strategic Programme 5
"Increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters"

Democratic People's Republic of Korea
FAO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, provided selected state farms with inputs for mechanizing production and introduced new cropping practices (such as Conservation Agriculture) to improve food production in the country and increase the resilience against recent episodes of dry spells. The equipment included pumps to enable irrigation of croplands during dry spells and to contribute with drainage in case of floods, two-wheel-tractors, hand planters, water tanks, and other inputs in line with CA principles.

Fiji
In February 2016, Fiji was hit by the devastating tropical cyclone Winston. Among the different recovery initiatives, FAO aided in the procurement and evaluation of agricultural hand tools delivered to affected farmers for their fast recovery. Support was also provided to identify and define the appropriate tools to use based on the local context and availability. During the procurement process, FAO conducted a quality assessment based on its guidelines for agricultural hand tools.

Myanmar
From July to September 2015, severe floods affected Myanmar. FAO provided support in order to define, evaluate and ensure the quality of the tender for the procurement of agricultural hand tools to be delivered to farmers affected by the floods. The equipment was intended to serve farmers to retake agricultural production and alleviate the losses in food and income caused by the floods.

Serbia
After the floods that affected the Balkans in May 2014, FAO and the European Union released a project to provide affected farmers with inputs to recover their production. Some of these inputs included irrigation kits, water pumps, tractors and other basic agricultural inputs which were delivered according to the needs of farmers.

South Sudan 
The multiple and continuous crises in South Sudan are affecting many people, especially smallholder farmers. FAO has been providing support through capacity building and the supply of agricultural hand tools to enhance agricultural production. Food insecurity is acute and reliable income is scar