Campus Education: A Lesson On Mechanized Farming by @swaylee

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Greetings Steemit family and welcome to the money hungry blogger's blog. I am a die hard fan of Agriculture so that what I would be teaching for today. Agriculture is an integral and essential aspect of an economy which some countries ignore but I would do no such thing. This post is centered on the mechanization when it comes to agriculture and what it's all about with examples. I trust we would learn a thing or two from this lecture.

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What is Mechanized Farming to start with?

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From the name and the meaning of each terms, we can see that mechanized farming is the use of machinery and technology related instruments to make the rearing of animals, cultivation of crops and other Agricultural activities easier. By making it easier, less people are needed to produce larger produce at far higher amounts and faster than usual. The large growing population would always need these farm produce either for exportation, domestic consumption or for domestic sales so the need to increase the amount of goods produced at a time with aid of technology was necessary.

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Any Examples Of Mechanized Farming Tools Available?

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Roller

This tool is used to flatten the soil surface especially after planting the seeds to reduce to soil air spaces. They do this by breaking clumps of soil and leveling them all.

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Cultivator

These are used to prepare the soil for planting by mixing the soil, making a proper bed for the seeds and by taking care of the weeds. These aren't it's only users and cultivators vary in types.

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Tractor

This so happens to be one of the most essential, important and used farm implement because it acts as a modifier and makes the use of other equipment possible. It is used together with the disk plough, the harrow and so on. It can be used to till the land, plant seeds, harvest crops among others.

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Do Modern Mechanized Farmers Face any problems?

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The answer is yes and here is why. There are most certainly far more than this and the problems vary from country to country so I would be saying them based on my experience in Nigerian farms.

✓ The problem of poverty. Especially here in Nigeria, most of the farmers are utilizing rented land or inherited land and don't even have enough money to take care of themselves let alone afford mechanized equipment. The cost of maintenance is also high so after affording it, you spend extra for servicing and so on.

✓ Inability to use the farm equipment. Some farmers who might be able to afford these equipment might not end up knowing how to operate it and would end up abandoning or selling it if they don't want to learn.

✓ Spare Parts of these machines are rare. In some countries, where some of the farming equipment being used are not really common, in the event to damage there wouldn't be a way of getting spare parts except through importation.

✓ Scarcity of Farm Machinery. Although there are big chances that the farm equipment might be available in the country, they would definitely be in high demand and are often scarce as only few end up being available in the country.

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What are the Advantages of Mechanized Farming?

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Reduced Expenses
After acquisition of the farm equipment, the expenses from there on would be greatly reduced especially in a case where you have experienced people to handle the machines. Instead of having to employ numerous people to work on your farm and paying each and every one of them, you can employ few people in conjunction with your machinery hence reducing cost.

Large Scale Production
A very large farm with a couple of farm machinery (the essential ones) and few workers would yield far more farm produce than a farm with over a 100 workers who are working as salarymen in your farm. This makes the farming process much easier and more stress-free.

Faster and More Efficient Production
The whole farming process has been made more easier, faster and efficient. From the use of chemicals to clear off the weeds, to machinery used in speeding up the planting process then sprinklers to supply water all around the farm, then fertilizers to speed up the plant growth then farm machinery to quickly harvest the crops and the process repeats itself.

Others include production of high quality farm produce, easier farm activity control and supervision

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What are the Disadvantages of Mechanized Farming?

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Contributes to Environmental Pollution
When using some of these mechanized farm equipment, for instance the tractor or roller when in use they emit unhealthy ozone threatening substances into the air which pollutes the environment.

Reduction in Employment Opportunities
The job opportunities which could have been given to over 200 people which would take them off the unemployment line for a while and help them earn a living but instead the job is done by 20 people and a bunch of machines.

High Cost of Procurement and Maintenance
Buying each and every one of the essential farm equipment would cost a fortune especially when the funding is done by one sole individual plus the maintenance and repairing of these mechanized tools won't be an easy task as some require foreign assistance in fixing. Even the cost of fueling would be a hassle.

Not all crops can be harvested using farm machinery and it also leads to damaging of crops
Some farm machinery are used to specifically harvest crops and some crops can't be harvested the same way others are so in the course of doing this they end up damaging a large amount of the crops in the process.

I guess this would be it for today. Thank you for staying and learning from this lecture

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