Mechanization scenario of agriculture in Punjab

Agriculture in Punjab has undergone a remarkable change as far as mechanization was concerned in the post Green Revolution period. Nearly all the machines and implements such as tractors, combines, electric and diesel engine run tubewells, disc harrows, spray pumps, reapers, etc. have increased exponentially in numbers, barring a few instances where the growth in numbers dipped. As such the agriculture in Punjab is amongst the most mechanized in the country. This was fallout of increasing instances of labour shortages and mechanization seems to be one of the most viable solutions. The mechanization has led to the timeliness of the farm operations and a result both the production and productivity of agriculture on Punjab farms has increased through time. At the same time this lead to an over mechanization of agriculture in the state and resulted into squeeze of farm profits. Over mechanization can be checked by resorting to custom-hiring services which are readily available with a numbers of primary agricultural cooperative societies to undertake various farm operations, but to achieve this farm extension agencies have to acquaint the farm-operators about the benefits of custom-hiring services.