Present status of adopted agricultural machinery in Sylhet region

Abstract

Mechanized cultivation plays a significant role in food production of Bangladesh. Now a day, the mechanization is increasing in such a manner which is very much able to acquire the food production requirement easily but the increasing population and decreasing rate of cultivable land daunting the food sufficiency in the future, which leads us to accomplish the study about finding out the current status of mechanization. A study was conducted in the Sylhet region as an undergraduate project work in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet. The objective was to determine the present status of the adopted agricultural machinery and make a comparison of the machinery used in different upazilas of Sylhet. The Upazila agricultural office and the local farmers provided the data for the year of 2016-2017. On the basis of supplied data, it was found that the Osmaninagar Upazila of Sylhet district has the most number of machinery as well as 3 639 in number and the lowest, 997 pieces of machinery owned by Jaintapur Upazila. On the cumulative measurement, Low Lift Pump(LLP) used in the highest number, which is 9 225 but seeder, bed planter and hand reaper are adopted in less than 5 in Sylhet district. Significant use of sprayer occurs in Sylhet Upazila, which is 2 306 in quantity. Among 13 combine harvester, Golapganj and zakiganj upazila use 02 in quantity respectively. The cultivable area of each Upazila and the number of machinery indicates that Biswanath upazila belongs most machinery per square kilometer as 29.731 and the lowest is 6.358 per square kilometer in Gowainghat Upazila. Among 13 Upazilas Sylhet, Biswanath, Fenchuganj, Biyanibazar has over 20 pieces of machinery per square kilometer, which is exactly 21.901, 29.731, 23.544, and 21.031 respectively. In this regard, developed machinery is required in this district to update the mechanization status. With a proper extension program and good promotion about this less available machinery, the superstition can be broken and the mechanization can be sustainable.