Book Review: The Influence of Weather on the Efficiency and Safety of Pesticide Application. The Drift of Herbicides (original) (raw)

Outlook on Agriculture, 1984

Abstract

A selection of papers presented during a workshop on small farm mechanisation held at the International Rice Research Institute in September 1981 comprises the contents of this book. Three papers examine aspects of farm machinery manufacture in the Philippines and Thailand and twelve papers arc concerned with the cost effectiveness and social consequences of introducing twowheel tractors, rice threshers, and irrigation pumps to small farms in a number of Asian countries. The papers are written primarily for economists and development agencies, although the general reader will be interested in the authors' conclusions. The first paper provides an overview and a comparison between the three countriesJapan, Taiwan, and Korea-which have already achieved significant levels of farm mechanisation, and other Asian countries. In many countries the introduction of tractors has tended to benefit the wealthy, to displace tenant farmers, and to reduce employment opportunities and unless the farmer adopts other inputs or is enabled to increase the intensity of cropping, tractor cultivation rarely seems to improve yields or production. Imported fuel, lubricants, and spares involve foreign exchange; the maintenance of tractors is a widespread and serious problem. Opportunity to undertake contract cultivation determined the profitability of tractor ownership for many farmers and this opportunity has declined with an increase in tractor ownership. Tractors reduce the need for draught animals although for some operations animals are more satisfactory than tractors and many farmers retain some animals. By contrast, pump irrigation in the Terai of eastern Nepal and tube wells in East Java improved yields, increased farm income, and increased employment. The introduction of rice threshers speeded-up the often critical post-harvest operation, but, depending on socio-economic factors, were not always more cost-effective than traditional methods of threshing. In all countries in which the rural labour force is increasing (it may be decreasing as a proportion of the total labour force) the benefits of any development which reduces employment opportunity have to be examined most carefully. A. Blair Rains

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