Agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara — especially for small farms and businesses — requires a new paradigm to meet the needs of the continent’s evolving farming systems. Can Asia, with its recent success in adopting mechanization, offer a model for Africa? An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development analyzes the experiences of eight Asian and five African countries. The authors explore crucial government roles in boosting and supporting mechanization, from import policies to promotion policies to public good policies. Potential approaches presented to facilitating mechanization in Africa include prioritizing market-led hiring services, eliminating distortions, and developing appropriate technologies for the African context. The role of agricultural mechanization within overall agricultural and rural transformation strategies in Africa is also discussed. The book’s recommendations and insights should be useful to national policymakers and the development community, who can adapt this knowledge to local contexts and use it as a foundation for further research.

The agricultural industry is dealing with enormous challenges across the globe, including the limited availability of arable lands and fresh water, as well as the effect of climate change. Machinery plays a crucial role in agriculture and farming systems, in order to feed the world’s growing population. In the last decade, we have witnessed major advances in agricultural machinery and technologies, particularly as manufacturers and researchers develop and apply various novel ways of automation as well as the data and information gathering and analyzing capabilities of their machinery. This book presents the state-of-the-art information on the important innovations in the agricultural and horticultural industry. It reviews and presents different novel technologies and implementation of these technologies to optimize farming processes and food production. There are four sections, each addressing a specific area of development. Section I discusses the recent development of farm machinery and technology. Section II focuses on water and irrigation engineering. Section III covers harvesting and post-harvest technology. Section IV describes computer modelling and simulation. Each section highlights current industry trends and latest research progress. This book is ideal for those working in or are associated with the fields of agriculture, agri-food chain and technology development and promotion.

New ideas and developed technologies in agricultural operations depend to a large extent on scientific research diversity. Their results and implementation are responsible for increased agricultural production. The dynamic nature of agricultural operations and the complexity of agricultural machinery are indices of such scientific research diversity as evident in the wide spread requirements in agricultural operation if increased production must be sustained. Extensive works on agricultural mechanization and machinery utilization in agricultural production documented in this eleven chapter book will go a long way to acquaint students and researchers with the principles of agricultural machinery and provide him with requisite knowledge and skills on various agricultural machinery operations for effective agricultural mechanization. The book thus discusses in details the basic concepts in the development of agricultural machinery and mechanization.

This framework presents ten interrelated principles/elements to guide Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). Further, it presents the technical issues to be considered under SAMA and the options to be analysed at the country and sub regional levels. The ten key elements required in a framework for SAMA are as follows: The analysis in the framework calls for a specific approach, involving learning from other parts of the world where significant transformation of the agricultural mechanization sector has already occurred within a three-to-four decade time frame, and developing policies and programmes to realize Africa’s aspirations of Zero Hunger by 2025. This approach entails the identification and prioritization of relevant and interrelated elements to help countries develop strategies and practical development plans that create synergies in line with their agricultural transformation plans. Given the unique characteristics of each country and the diverse needs of Africa due to the ecological heterogeneity and the wide range of farm sizes, the framework avoids being prescriptive.

FAO is a global knowledge broker for the agri-food industry, including technologies for production and processing. In particular, the Agro-Industries Programme of FAO is increasingly tending to focus on appropriate input supply, innovation and value chain development. Improvements in these areas have the potential to sustain and improve livelihoods and well-being at whatever scale and in whatever region of the world. Within the World Congress on "Agricultural Engineering for a Better World," as a preparation for the challenges of the twenty-first century, FAO conducted two workshops. The first targeted the subject of "challenges for agricultural mechanization in sub-Saharan Africa," and the second focused on "using technology to add value and increase quality." This report contains the results of the Congress, and encourages both readers and decision-makers to consider the important role of engineering technologies for development and, indeed, for a better world. (Also available in French and Spanish)

Agricultural Mechanization and Automation is a component of Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The mechanization of farming practices throughout the world has revolutionized food production, enabling it to maintain pace with population growth except in some less-developed countries, most notably in Africa. Agricultural mechanization has involved the partial or full replacement of human energy and animal-powered equipment (e.g. plows, seeders and harvesters) by engine-driven equipment. The theme on Agricultural Mechanization and Automation cover six main topics: Technology and Power in Agriculture; Farm Machinery; Facilities and Equipment for Livestock Management; Environmental Monitoring; Recovery and Use of Wastes and by-Products; Slaughtering and Processing of Livestock, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs

Agricultural mechanization has often been characterized by scale-effects and increased specialization. Such characterizations, however, fail to explain how mechanization may grow in Africa where production environments are more heterogeneous and diversification of production may help in mitigating risks from increasingly uncertain climatic conditions. Using panel data from farm households and crop-specific production costs in Nigeria, we estimate how the adoption of animal traction or tractors affects the economies of scope (EOS) between rice, non-rice grains, legume/seed crops, and other crops, which are the crop groups that are most widely grown with animal traction or tractors in Nigeria. The results indicate that the adoption of these mechanization technologies is associated with lower EOS between non-rice grains, legume/seed crops, and other crops, but greater EOS between rice and other crops. An increase in EOS for rice is indicated in both primal and dual analytical approaches. Mechanical technologies may raise EOS between crops that are grown in more heterogeneous environments, even though it may lower EOS between crops that are grown in relatively similar environments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows the effects of mechanical technologies on EOS in agriculture in developing countries.