STUDY ON ANNUAL USE PATTERN, BREAKDOWNS AND PROFITABILITY OF FARM TRACTORS IN DISTRICT LUCKNOW (UTTAR PRADESH) INDIA

In INDIA’s Lucknow district (Uttar Pradesh), most of the farmers have bullock farming and perform cultural operation using traditional indigenous implements. Some farmers have started shifting towards tractor farming looking the problems with the bullock farming and to facilitate timely completion of cultural operations with generation of employment and a source of income. It has been realized by the farmers that owning a tractor in their farming is essential for timely completion of field operations, better utilization of costly inputs, to handle large volume of agro produce, to improve quality of work and to have a side business during off season. Most of the farmers in Lucknow have purchased tractors with a trolley and cultivator, taking loan from the Banks. Tractors are more often used in the northern states than in Lucknow. The state of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh together account for 60 per cent of the total tractors in India. (Singh and Tandon, 1987) In this region the farm tractor is generally used for operations i.e. tillage, sowing (covering seed), leveling, puddling, threshing, irrigation and transportation for marketing of agro product, and for transportation of sand, bricks, stone etc. The tractor is also being used during festival, marriage and other social works. All the farm tractors are generally used in own work and in custom hiring work.