Feasibility Evaluation of Animal Drawn Improved Equipment under Terrace Cultivation- A Case Study in Sikkim

More than 64% of the population is dependent on agriculture and related activities. In country, there are 80 % operational holdings in small and marginal categories which depend fully on animal power. Around 75 million ha (55% of the total cultivated area) of the country is managed by draught animals with 1.5-2 ha command area. The present use of draught animals is limited from 100 to 120 h per year in cultivation operation. It has been reported that the total area under food crop production in Sikkim was 81320 ha (HRD report, Govt. of Sikkim; 2005-06). The command area per hectare by use of traditional equipment was 1 ha (50-70 terraces). The command area by use of improved equipment could be increased up to 1.5 ha (80-100 terraces). The animal based cultivation is treated as zero based system as the animals are well maintained and sustained in the hills ecosystem of Sikkim cost effectively. For mustard and wheat crops, seedbed preparation and seeding equipment were feasibility tested in terrace cultivation and the cost economics was compared over traditional practices. The effective field capacity and cost of operation of improved wing plough were 0.024 sq.m/h and Rs. 1600/ ha for puddling operation in rice production system under terrace farming. The improved wing plough provided output from 200 to 300 sq.m/h for dry tillage operation. Under seeding equipment, single row seed drill was tested for mustard and wheat which gave effective field capacity varying from 300 to 500 sq.m/h. The single row seed drill when used for zero tillage seeding, the effective field capacity was 300 sq.m/h. The savings in cost of operation and time were 65% and 69% respectively over traditional method.