“In Pakistan, farm mechanization has been limited to few basic tools for land preparation and outdated models of combined harvesters when harvesting grain crops”, he said. Infusion of the right mechanization technology will be crucial for the productivity increase and growth of agriculture in Pakistan.

He also noted that due to the seasonal nature of the agriculture, the farm machinery remains idle for much of the time. incurring unnecessary high costs unless proper alternate use of such machinery in the off-season is made. To cope with this situation, multi-crop planters and multi-crop harvesters have huge potential to be applied in a wide scope. Lack of awareness, low standard manufacturing of agricultural machinery, lack of repair and replacement facilities especially in the remote rural areas, absence of standardization of agricultural machinery, and weak knowledge transmission are hindering Pakistani farmers to reap the benefits of modern agricultural machines. Small sized farms and scattered land holdings prevail in Pakistan. “For Pakistan, I think small scale machinery is one of the best options in terms of existing average farm size and affordability of farmers. Another possible option could be development of machinery pools for availability of expensive machines at rent in towns and villages”, he recommended. The usage of modern machinery can bring a variety of benefits to farmers: enhanced efficiency of operations, precise application of different inputs, reduction in the cost of production, enhancement in the production quantity and quality of produce, timeliness of operations, increased cropping intensity due to timely operations, increase in the area under cultivation through development of culturable wasteland, reduced dependence on labor, reduced labor drudgery, etc.