Anantapur: SRFMTTI makes modern farming more productive

Garladinne (Anantapur): Southern Region Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute (SRFMTTI) Director Dr P P Rao stated that the institute has increased its contribution exponentially in the recent past both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The hands-on training being offered by this institute aims at promoting the judicious use of various agricultural inputs, the testing of machinery as per international test codes, on the other hand, contributes substantially in identifying trust-worthy machinery.

Addressing trainee farmers at its training campus here on Saturday, Rao stated the conduction of 40 number of demonstrations of modern agricultural machinery in the villages, adopted by members of parliament, under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana has benefitted 2,300 farmers of five states, including AP state.

The institute was mandated with imparting the skilled training on two courses i.e tractor operator and harvesting machinery operator. Safety in farm machinery operation has always been a matter of great importance, Rao added.

Sustainable mechanisation can increase land productivity by facilitating timeliness and quality of cultivation and support opportunities that relieve the burden of labour shortages and enable households to withstand shocks better; decrease the environmental footprint of agriculture when combined with adequate conservation agriculture practices, he pointed out.

B Nagendra Prasad, a progressive farmer from Ellutla, said the training will reduce poverty and achieve food security while improving people's livelihoods.

"Mechanisation is a crucial input for agricultural crop production and one that historically has been neglected in the context of developing countries. Factors that reduce the availability of farm power compromise the ability to cultivate sufficient land and have long been recognized as a source of poverty.

Increasing the power supply to agriculture means that more tasks can be completed at the right time and greater areas can be farmed to produce greater quantities of crops while conserving natural resources. Applying new technologies that are environmentally friendly enables farmers to produce crops more efficiently by using less power," he stated.

Speaking on the occasion, agriculture entrepreneur Muchukota Suresh Babu said sustainable agricultural mechanisation can also contribute significantly to the development of value chains and food systems as it has the potential to render post-harvest, processing and marketing activities and functions more efficient, effective and environment-friendly.