CSIR develops low-cost tractor for small farmers

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, June 28

A compact, affordable and easily manoeuvrable tractor catering to small and marginal farmers that can help them increase agricultural productivity while keeping their costs low, has been developed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Marginal and small farmers comprise over 80 per cent of cultivators in India and a large proportion of them still depend on bullock-pulled tilling implements in which operational costs, maintenance costs and poor returns pose a challenge.

Though power tillers are replacing the traditional plough, these are cumbersome to operate. Commercially available tractors in the market, on the other hand, are unsuitable and unaffordable for most small farmers.

In order to address these challenges, CSIR’s Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) developed a compact and affordable tractor of low horsepower range to meet the requirement of the marginal and small farmers, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology today.

The CMERI was also discussing licensing the technology to local companies for large scale manufacturing.