TAFE’s initiative for sustainable small holder farm

sustainability in developing economies of Africa

A. The Development Initiative

Introduction:

Most developing economies are subject to TAFE is spearheading our

 Low food productivity and production Integrated farming and
 Fragmented and small land holdings mechanisation model targeted at
 Traditional/ archaic agricultural practices small holders/ subsistence farmers in
 Severe rain dependence partnership with African
 Soil degradation governments and / or Development
 Low availability/ use of farm power Organisations
 Poor farm sustainability

The India parallel

Fifty years ago, India was in the same state that many developing economies are in now. We were forced
to import food grain as our forex balances were insufficient to buy food to avoid severe food shortages.
Our food production and productivity were low. Our farms were fragmented and small. We were using
legacy seeds and archaic farm practices. We lacked farm power and most farming was possible only by
human drudgery. The green revolution empowered by farm mechanisation and supported by farmer
friendly government policy changed all that and now we are food surplus and export food to other
countries. This was made possible to a large extent by the increased mechanisation of farming. We also
learnt about the flip side of the green revolution in terms of farmer overuse of fertilisers / pesticides/
other inputs and the resulting soil degradation.

Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited

We are a tractor major based out of Chennai and currently the third largest tractor manufacturer in the
world and India’s largest tractor exporter. We are privileged to have been a part of India’s transition into
food surplus over the past 50 years and are proud to have provided farm power in over ten lakh farms
across India. Our growth from a “single model single plant” company to a “global tractor major” was
possible because of the visionary efforts of our founding fathers who always put the farmer first and
worked on how to improve his viability and sustainability and then produced tractors and other farm
equipment to support him in his endeavours.

The cradle of our developmental efforts for the Indian farmer is J farm, which was set up almost
immediately after TAFE’s incorporation. The farm has, over these past 5 decades, been instrumental in
introducing a number of new varieties of rice, increased crop diversity in the area by introducing a
number of short duration cash crops such as the water melon varieties that utilise residual moisture,
pulses and vegetables and a long term money spinner such as the Yahuti Rumani which is a drought
resistant variety of mango. The work continues with the launching of one more such adaptive research
farm in Rajasthan with some more to follow.

J Farm has, through its efforts of the past fifty years, put together TAFE’s Integrated farming and
mechanisation model, specially tailored for small farmers that leverages relevant mechanisation to

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ensure their transition from subsistence to prosperity. TAFE is ready to share these experiential learnings
along with building capacity to use, operate and maintain appropriate farm machinery in other
developing economies, as a part of its efforts to ensure global small holder farmers sustainability and
prosperity.

TAFE’s Integrated farming and mechanisation model,

It has a holistic multi-pronged approach comprising

1. Integrating farming with animal husbandry in This ensures

small and medium farms
2. Ensuring a mix of short, medium and long 1. 250 days of work that
term crops viz., vegetables, cereal crop and makes farming a viable and
trees/ orchard attractive career for the
3. Reduce chemical dependence by younger generation.
supplementing with bio fertilisers and 2. A regular monthly income
pesticides 3. Input cost reduction for
4. Manage water and soil through simple on
greater farm head
farm practices
profitability
5. Introduce modern and innovative geography
relevant farming techniques, crops and seeds 4. Empowers rural economy

6. Ensure that all the above are empowered

through affordable and relevant
mechanisation

Integrating farming and animal husbandry

Cultivation of only a cereal crop will never be able to improve small holder farm sustainability, given the
low returns from cereal crops. Moreover, such an approach is subject to risk of total loss in the case of a
crop failure.

Integrating animal husbandry with cultivation provides another revenue vertical for the farmer who is
able to get cash for the animal produce be it eggs or milk or meat. Additionally the animal droppings are
a rich source of farmyard manure which would help reduce expenses on expensive chemical fertiliser.

Ensuring a mix of long, medium and short term crops

Small holders in most developing economies including Africa are rain dependent and tend to grow just
the cereal crop in a year and for the rest of the year, the land lies totally or partly unutilised citing the lack
of water.

It is possible, as we have done in India, to grow vegetables or other legumes/ crops that require very little
water or can grow in the residual moisture available in the soil. This has been successfully conducted in J
farm through growing vegetables, water melons and even legumes in the dry summer months. Of course
effective water management techniques would greatly help in this and these short term crops would
provide the much needed cash flow for the farmers.

The cereal crop which is the main crop will be grown according to the rainy season and local practice and
would form the medium term crop.

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The long term crop comprising trees or orchards are another revenue vertical which, after a period of
three to five years, will provide another revenue stream through sale of fruits or lumber and also provide
forage for the animals in the farm. The trees if planted right will also act as wind barriers and prevent soil
erosion

Reduce Chemical dependence

In India, we have seen the ill effects of over-fertilising in terms of soil degradation. This is a very real
danger. Moreover, when crops are grown, especially for export to developed economies, one must
remember that chemical residues on or in crops are not acceptable and are a health hazard.

TAFE’s Integrated farming and Mechanisation model recommends a balanced nutrient management
system that encourages supplementing chemical fertiliser with farm yard manure converted and
enriched with bio additives to form enriched farm generated vermin-compost.

Use of this farm generated manure will reduce the input costs significantly and hence improve
sustainability and increase farm profits.

Water and Soil management through simple practices

Loss of precious water due to surface runoff is the bane of most developing economies. Simple practices
exist for on farm harvesting and storing of this water in scoop bunds, farm ponds and through other
methods to ensure excellent percolation of water into the soil to recharge aquifers and water tables for
later tapping

Soil management is another area where attention needs to be taken to ensure that the soil is rich in
organic matter through appropriate farming practices such as Zero till drilling, cutting down green
biomass into the soil for increasing organic content as well as correcting soil conditions.

Introduction of modern innovative and geography relevant farm practices

Many developing economies depend on legacy seeds, despite the fact that certified seeds are available.
While this may be due to consideration of cost, with the use of certified seeds, productivity is bound to
improve.

Further, it may be possible to introduce alternate crops as suitable for the geography to increase yields
and profitability.

Innovative farming practices are another way of increasing farm yields and profitability. Paired row
planting in Banana, for example, has increased productivity. Vertical farming in its simplest form, viz.,
growing vegetables such as cucumber, beans etc on standards and wires stretched across the standards
increase the number of crops grown per unit area.

Empower through affordable and relevant farm mechanisation

Farm mechanisation is one of the prime drivers of farm productivity and hence sustainability. However,
the challenge is to deliver affordable and relevant farm mechanisation to small holder farms. The custom
hiring model now gaining popularity in India is an ideal method to do so where a community is benefited
through a “Farm Services Provider” who hires out a range of tractors and equipment to farmers in the
surrounding area. One such custom hiring unit can serve up to a maximum of 500 Ha provided it has three
such sets of equipment.

Due to colonial and other legacies, developing economies are saddled with the idea that a 100 HP or a
80 HP tractor and matching equipment are needed for African farms. Nothing can be further than the

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truth. India has every type of soil available in Africa from sandy loam to heavy clay and the average
tractor HP used in India is 40 to 45 HP for most operations.

Use of appropriate HP tractors and precision farming made possible by modern farm machinery can
further reduce costs by eliminating some operations, thus reducing the amount of work on the soil,
thereby reducing soil degradation

Higher HP would mean underutilisation and resulting loss of economy. Further, the cost of tractors and
related equipment increases exponentially with the HP. While a 35 to 40 HP tractor with a set of relevant
equipment would cost about $20,000, a 100 HP tractor with relevant equipment would cost close to $
100,000.

Hence relevant and affordable mechanisation from India with its 50 plus years of experience is ideally
suited.

Capacity Building

No amount of efforts in the above 6 areas would yield full benefits unless and until local capacity to take
up these six approaches and run them is developed. So what is needed is a Development Initiative and
not a Commercial Initiative, which is what TAFE recommends. After may be 5 to 10 years, the time may
be right for commercial exploitation!

B. The Commercial fallout

In all these proposals, what is emphasised is the development aspect. The commercial aspect is not
desirable at this early stage nor would it be commercially viable for a distributor to operate under a
development mode.

TAFE, therefore, proposes to put-in its own staff at each of these countries to build local capacity in terms
of tractor use, maintenance and operation as well as introduction and promotion of TAFE’s Integrated
Farming model.

Relevant farm mechanisation will be reached to farmers initially through the pilot centre but will be
extended to other custom hiring centre (created by the Government) whose viability will be proved
through the pilot centre. The other custom hiring centres will be mentored and supported by TAFE’s staff
located at each country for a period of 3 to 5 years till local talent can be trained to take over. After 5
years, it is expected that the entire process is mature enough to be commercialised, at which stage
commercial operations using the traditional distributor route will commence.

 The beneficiary Government shall secure by way of a Sovereign Guarantee, the Buyer’s Credit
to be offered by the EXIM Bank of India. All required co-ordination with Exim Bank will be done
by TAFE.

 The beneficiary Government shall procure from TAFE on an exclusive basis the total
requirement of tractors, equipment and implements for its pilot centre till such time an
adequate mechanization is established (for a minimum of 10 years).

 These tractors, equipment and implements will be distributed to 100 Farmers Blocks (a cluster
of farmers) at 5 tractors / cooperative i.e., 500 tractors per annum. The next set of 500 tractors
to be purchased in the following year will be given to another set of 100 Farmers Blocks in the
next identified agricultural area. This shall continue such that in a span of 10 years most of the
Farmers Blocks in most of the agricultural areas will be covered.
.

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  These tractors will be used by the pilot centre in promoting mechanisation through use by
the Farmers Blocks and their member- farmers leading to agricultural productivity increase.

 These Farmers Blocks, in turn, will give these tractors on custom hiring basis to the member
farmers so that they can utilise the products effectively besides being trained in applying
appropriate farming techniques and in integrated farming models.

 In the long term the farmers will also earn a sustainable monthly income which will improve
the standard of their living through integrated farming practices and will be in a position to
pay the margin money and buy the tractors of their own.

Ongoing projects

TAFE is presently working with the Government of Ethiopia in establishing pilot centres to promote
TAFE’s integrated farming model and to reach relevant mechanisation to small farmers. The centres will
work closely with the Government’s farm extension service workers, the ministry of Agriculture and the
Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation agency to increase small holder farm productivity and improve
Ethiopian food security. These centres will also train local farmers and youth in farm machinery use,
maintenance and repair apart from latest innovations in farming.

TAFE is also working with a global development agency on similar projects focussing on small holder
farmers’ sustainability and increased productivity and prosperity using the same model in Malawi and
subsequently to Tanzania and Rwanda.

Initial proposals have also been made to Burkina Faso and Cote D’Ivoire in West Africa in response to the
local government’s demands.

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