"Diverse patterns of smaller scale rural mechanisation and sustainable rural development", presented by Stephen Biggs and Scott Justice, at NSD/IFPRI workshop on "Mechanization and Agricultural Transformation in Asia and Africa", June 18-19, 2014, Beijing, China

1. Diverse patterns of smaller scale
rural mechanisation and
sustainable rural development
Stephen Biggs1
Scott Justice2
1 Independent Researcher
2 CIMMYT Nepal
Presentation at the workshop on Mechanisation and agricultural transformation in Asia and Africa:
Sharing Development Experiences. June 18-9, 2014. Beijing, China. Sponsored by the International
Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) and the National School of Development.

2. Introduction: Personal and reflective
history by the authors
• Biggs- Involvement in rural mechanisation
policy and practice, and agricultural economic
modeling. This has been mainly in Bangladesh,
Nepal and the Gangetic plains (terai) region of
India. Since the late 1960s
• Justice- Similar professional involvement since
early 1990s

3. Introduction (continued)
Definition: What do we include under
Small Scale Rural Mechanisation
• Covers electric motors and diesel engines,
micro hydro, solar, etc. in rural areas for all
sectors:
– Agriculture
– Forestry
– Fisheries
– Transport
– Processing

4. Introduction (continued)
Argument of the presentation
• 1960s-1970s: Open western public policy debates on agricultural and
rural mechanisation
• 1980-2000:
– Closing down of rural and agricultural mechanisation debates
• Academic policy debates
• Engineering R&D institutions,
• National and international data collection and analysis
– Advocacy of Washington Consensus policies
– “Silent” and “hidden” spread of small scale engines, machines and
equipment in rural areas in many countries of South and East Asia
– Spread of service markets in rural areas
• Mid 2000s: Crises in food security, energy, financial markets, land grabs,
labor shortages. Implications of migrant economies
– Growth of diverse discourses on ag and rural mechansation (Econ, Nat Geo)
• 2014: Need to re-open and re-structuring of national and international
rural mechanisation policy debates

5. What are we talking about?
• 2-wheel tractors and attachments
Bangladesh
China

6. What are we talking about?
• 2-wheel tractors and attachments
Trail
5- ton trailer, Bangladesh

7. What are we talking about?
(continued)
• Shallow tube wells, low lift pumps layflat pipe-
Bangladesh

8. What are we talking about?
(continued)
• Threshers and single cylinder diesel engine on
bullock cart Nepal

9. What are we talking about?
(continued)
• Engines on boats- Thailand

10. What are we talking about?
(continued)
• Micro hydro Nepal simple Pelton turbine 2
kilowatt

11. What are we talking about?
(continued)
• Mobile phone

12. What are we talking about?
(continued)
• Solar panels

13. What are we talking about?
(continued)
• Axil flow pump-Cambodia

14. History of Themes in Western Policy
Debates and Rural Mechanisation
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Opening debates local /
national/regional
Closing of Rural Mechanisation
Policy Debate
Reopening due
to multiple
crises

15. Themes of Western Development Policy
1960s to 1980s
• Open policy debates on National/regional/Local development
– National/Regional development plans (Leontief Input output tables)
– Integrated Rural Development Programmes (IRDPs)
– Green Revolution (dominated by plant breeding concerns)
– Intermediate/Alternative/Appropriate Technology projects
– Rural Works Programmes for infrastructure development
– Strong economic/social science presence in international agricultural policy debates and
in most CGIAR International Agricultural Research Centres
• Agrarian Structure Debates
– Size of holding ,
– Distributive land reforms, institutional reforms of semi feudal rural relationships.
– Political economy of agrarian change.
– Gender analysis (displacement of women from household processing of food,
employment implication of combines, etc.)
– Small Farmer development Agency (loans for small equipment)
• Rural Mechanisation Debates Partial economic analysis bullocks vs 4WTs ,
rural employment analysis (+ or – combines, women’s displacement-rice
processing), economic and social benefit cost analysis, de-regulation policies,
small/medium rural industries.

16. Themes of Western Development
Policy 1980s to Late 2000s
• Closing of Rural Mechanisation Policy Debates
– Reviews/evaluations of past policy interventions showed
difficulties of “implementing” equitable rural development
interventions
– Micro credit promotion (but not for smaller equipment)
– General Closing down of Ag/ Rural Mechanization R&D
– Closing down of data collection and analysis on rural mech.
– Narrowing of “Green Revolution” analysis to the Punjab Plant
breeding /4 wheel tractor/combine harvest model
– Agrarian structure debates declined
– Small scale rural industries research declined

17. Themes of Western Development
Policy 1980s to Late 2000s
• Global Crisis: Forcing open rural mechanisation debates
– Crisis in financial markets
– Energy price rise
– Food shortages
– Land grabs
– Continued rural unemployment, rural poverty, malnutrition, and rise in
inequality in many countries
– Increasing migrant labour economies
– Rise in advocacy of large scale industrial agriculture.
– International assessment of food/agriculture concentrated on global
aggregate total supplies and demand in the future; with little reference to
reasons for current and growing inequalities (such as high levels of child
malnutrition in food surplus countries) and to agrarian/rural structural
considerations. An d concentration of ownership of land farm equipment
in some regions

18. BUT: Many diverse patterns of rural
development and mechanisation taking
place in South and East Asia
• While the international debates were closing
down, there were many Green Revolutions
taking place in South Asia, with the major
spread of smaller scale equipment in some
South and East Asian countries
• Long history, great diversity and huge
numbers

19. Timeline Spread Smaller Rural Machinery
Tech Country 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Nepal
4WT
2WT
Small Engines
Threshers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------50% sales for transport------------
Japanese KTM & Pokhara—Korean--Chinese--------------------------------------Chinese spread to the terai and hills
Small hp Indian irrigation pumpsets --------------------------------------------------------------------------Chinese diesel pumpsets
Wheat threshers---------------------------------------------------------starting rice threshers-----------
Viet
nam
Small Engines Small USA engines pumps and long tail boats --------------------Switch to Chinese Engines ----------------------------------------------------------------
Bangla
desh
4WT
2WT
Small Engines
Threshers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------large% sales for transport---
Japanese------------------------------------------- Chinese only--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mainly Indian/Japanese irrigation pumpsets -----------Rapid expansion of Chinese engines for pumps boats etc-------------------------
Wheat threshers---------------------------------------------------------and then Rice Threshers-------
India
4WT
2WT
Small Engines
Threshers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese-Indian--------------------------------------------------------------------- Chinese --------------------------------------------
Indian/ Listeroid --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Expansion of Chinese engines---------------
Wheat threshers-----------------------------------------------------------------and then Rice Threshers-PTO Driven-------------------------------
Sri
Lanka
4WT
2WT
Small Engines
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sri Lankan Designed British Made------- Chinese-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chinese diesel for pumpsets/threshers--------------------------------
Thai
Land
4WT
2WT
Small Engines
Threshers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Imports of Japanese used --------Japanese brand manufacturing-------------------------------
-----Thai developed with Japanese Engines only-----------Japanese Engines licensed manufacturing in Thailand-------------------------------------------
?American? ---------LT Boats----------------Japanese-----------Centrifugal and axial flow pumps-------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------IRRI axial flow manufactured----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

20. Diverse patterns- Illustration of size and
type of power sources
Bangladesh India Nepal
Energy
Source
No
Units
Total hp
% of
total
hp
No. units Total hp
% of
total
hp
No.
units
Total hp
% of total
hp
2WTs* 500,000 7,500,000 53% 300,000 4,500,000 B 16,000 240,000 13%
4Wts** 35,000 460,000 3% 3,500,000 122,500,000 55% 30,000 900,000 51%
Irrigation
shallow tube
well pump
Diesel ***
1.2 M 6,000,000 42% 9,000,000 45,000,000 20% 120,000 600,000 34%
Irrigation
pumpsets
Electric****
100,000 200,000 1% 12,000,000 48,000,000 21% 10,000 40,000 2%
Total 14,160,000 100%
220,000,000
100% 1,780,000 100%
Estimates of the numbers of power sources (and their horsepower ratings) used primarily in agricultural and processing uses, including
groundwater irrigation pumps. It does not for example include the many engines used in Bangladesh to power riverboats, rice mills,
processing, etc, although these are a major part of the Bangladesh agriculture and rural economy
* Average of 14 hp per 2-wheel tractors (2WT
** Average of 30 hp per 4-wheel tractor
*** Diesel / petrol irrigation pumpsets are average 5 hp. 5 – 10 % of the pumpsets are petrol/kerosene

21. General Observations 1
• Long histories of substantial smaller scale rural
mechanisation (E.g. Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Thailand)
• Diverse patterns of rural mechanisation
o mixed sources of engines,
o different sequences in the mechanisation of
different operations,
o different patterns of larger and smaller scale
mechanisation
• Major public involvement- but diverse

22. General Observations 2
• Multiple uses of smaller engines for a wide range of
operations:
o transport (river & road)
o water pumping,
o threshing, milling, hulling, processing
• Multiple market institutions for ownership and the
buying and selling of engine services (E.g. tillage,
transport (boats and roads), water pumping.
• Many stong backward and forward rural growth
linkages

23. General Observations 3
• "Good enough" Chinese single cylinder
lightweight, diesel engines are an
important part of the many stories.
• Ownership by rural entrepreneurs- rather
than by "small, independent, subsistence,
and self reliant farmers"
• Energy policy has been a central
component (availability and prices of
electricity and fossil fuels),
• Agrarian/rural structure always important

24. Current Challenge
• There are many discourses relating to process
of rural mechanisation
• Yet very few rural machanisation policy
debates

25. Illustration of the Biases and Problems in
the Current Discourses Concerning Rural
Mechanisation
• Problem of only recently discovering the
“silent” new” “”quiet” and diverse green
revolutions using small scale rural and
agricultural machinery
– Why were they not observed and documented
earlier?
– Why was even existing literature (David Biggs-2005,
Randy Barker-1990s, etc) not mainstreamed into
economic development debates

26. Illustration of the Biases and Problems in the
Current Discourses on Rural Mechanisation
(continued)
• Many GR narratives become a plant breeders
success story --- even when rural
mechanisation and government price policies
created the technical and economic conditions

27. Illustration of the Biases and Problems in the
Current Discourses on Rural Mechanisation
(continued)
• Promotional literature and activities of large
MNC agro-machinery companies
• Promotion of business as usual
– Plant sciences new green revolution (economist)
– Rather than an energy based new “Green
Revolution” (Mazzucato)

28. Illustration of the Biases and Problems in the
Current Discourses on Rural Mechanisation
(continued)
(Mis-)Characterization of the “Small Farm”
Sector
– Small farms are stand alone, isolated economic
units (in fact often integrated into local service
markets and even international export markets)
– Fragmented/small holdings are inefficient and
need consolidating for ag production
intensification “…one day land consolidation will
doubtless be needed “ (The Economist, May 10, 2014)

29. Biases and Problems in the Current
Discourses on Rural Mechanisation
(continued)
• Small scale equipment is “Appropriate”
technology from “idealistic “ NGOs, but has
been shown not to be relevant to todays
global food problems.

30. Biases and Problems in the Current Public
and Policy Discourses on Rural
Mechanisation
(continued)
• Minimalisation of the energy and environmental costs of
some earlier and some current large scale “Green
Revolutions”
• Ladders, stages and linear approaches to technology
development in agricultural / rural engineering
• Lack of engagement of rural engineering expertise with the
global debates and “documentation” on food, rural
employment policy discourses (WB Report 2007, IASTAD
2007, UK Foresight Report 2011, Hungry for Land GRAIN,
2014).

31. Way Forward: Reopening and
Reframing of Rural Mechanisation
Policy Debates and Practice
Considerations:
• Locally specific national policy analysis
• Reintroduction of Rural Development as a goal (equitable economic
growth, rural employment, inequality reduction) in economic policy
• Rationalize agriculture/rural economic development within national
energy and industrialization policies
• Survey and other data collection methods for engineers/economist
and other social scientists. Including cost effective methods for
monitoring contemporary change. For example, the spread of 2-
wheel tractors and the nature of markets in services.
• Curriculum of Engineering Department to include substantial field
and workshop experience – not just theoretical modeling.

32. Way Forward: Reopening and Reframing
of Rural Mechanisation Policy Debates
(continued)
Considerations:
• Need for historical/innovation studies of public and private
roles in the spread of small engines, motors and machinery
technologies
• Skepticism concerning the speculative claims of those
promoting general agricultural/rural mechanisation
• Recognition and capitalization of technical and institutional
innovations coming from artisanal / informal R&D
• Restructuring of rural and agricultural mechanisation debates
in the context of macro intermediate / capital goods industrial
policy
• Public sector support for information and credit for small
scale rural equipment to poorer rural entrepreneurs

33. Conclusion
Time for rural engineering and
mechanisation issues to come to the
front of the rural development stage.

34. References
National Mechanisation Reports. Webpage of the UN’s Center for Sustainable
Agricultural Mechanization (www.UNCSAM.org/countrystudies )
Mechanization for Rural Development: A review of patterns and progress
from around the world 2013 Kienzle, Josef , John E. Ashburner , Brian G. Sims
Eds. Integrated Crop Management Vol . 20-2013. Plant Production and
Protection Division Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) United Nations,
Rome.
Mazzucato, Mariana, 2013. The entrepreneurial state: debunking private vs.
public sector myths. London: Anthem.
The Economist. May 10th 2014 A bigger rice bowl: Another green revolution
is stirring in the world’s paddy fields
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21601815-another-green-
revolution-stirring-worlds-paddy-fields-bigger-rice-bowl
National Geographic – Feeding the World (May 2014)