Full mechanization: a path to increased farm income, food security, and environmental quality in developing countries
摘要
Agriculture mechanization has been recognized as one of the significant pathways for ensuring high farm income and food security among farmers in developing countries. However, the adoption level of agricultural machinery is still very low in these countries due to some socio- economic limitations. Hence, agricultural mechanization concept is at the top of the policy, development and research agenda in developing countries and limited empirical evidence is available about farmer’s adoption of agriculture mechanization and its impact on the farm income food security and environmental quality at household level in developing countries. For this purpose, cross-sectional data was collected by using multistage sampling technique from 370 farmers of Punjab, Pakistan. Propensity score matching (PSM) technique was used to assess the impact of mechanization adoption on farm income and food security. The results show that adopting the full mechanized strategy in every production stage of farming significantly and positively influences the farm income by 55% and ensures the in food scurity up to 125% as compared to semi mechanized strategy adopters. Furthermore, the logit model was employed to analyze the factors affecting farmer’s adoption decision towards agriculture mechanization which shows that age, education, farming experience, operational land holding, extension service and access to credit significantly influences the adoption of full mechanization strategy. The adoption of full mechanization is cost-effective at every production stage of farming. Because implementing the machinery leads to the development of precision agriculture and prevents the input losses i.e. (seeds, pesticides, fertilizer). This insight will be helpful for policy makers to promote agriculture mechanization among farmers ultimately which will contribute in ensuring food availability at household level