Energy-use patterns under various farming systems in Punjab

Applied Energy 30 (1988) 261 268

Energy-Use Patterns under Various Farming Systems in Punjab

Surendra Singh, J. P. Mittal, M. P. Singh & R. Bakhshi College of Agricultural Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004. India

ABSTRACT The state of Punjab (India) is divided into six agro-elimatic zones, viz. submountainous undulating zone, undulating zone, undulating plain zone, central plain zone, western zone and flood plain zone. Because of the associated vast changes in agro-climatic conditions, the distribution of energy consumption .[or crop production has not been uniform. For this stud)', the state **'asdi~:ided into .[bur farming s)'stems depending upon the level of energy use in crop production, irrigation .facilities available and the status of farm machinery use. The .['our O'stems were: (1) traditional (rain:[ed); (2) improved traditional (partially irrigated); (3) semi-intensive (irrigated) and (4) intensive (irrigated using improved farm implements). Multi-stage strat([ied techniques were applied in conducting the farmers' surw'y to study the energyuse pattern under various farming systems for the cultivation of wheat. The grain yield was a minimum (612 kg/ha) for.farming O'stem (1) and was a maximum (4677kg/ha) for farming s)'stem (4). The specific energy requirement decreased from 8.84 MJ/kg (for .farming system ( 1 )) to 4.14 MJ/kg (for farming system ( 4 ) ) . The energy output-input ratio also increased from 2"8 to 5.9. It **'as also observed that .farming O'stem (3) consumed almost as much energy as system (4), yet the grain yield **,as low. This may be because of the high fertilizer dose, which was about 20% more than the recommended dose. It may, therefore, be concluded that the increased energy consumption in the form of agro-inputs increases the energy e~ciency and grain yield, but that management and proper use of various energy sources and machinery also plays an equally important role. 261

Applied Energy 0306-2619/88/$03"50 ~, 1988 Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Lid, England. Printed in Great Britain

262

Surendra Singh, J. P. Mittal, M. P. Singh, R. Bakhshi

INTRODUCTION With the introduction of agriculture, man began to apply energy to cultivate crops. For many years the only energy used for the purpose was human energy. Later man learnt to harness animal, water and wind energy in order to obtain power for simple agricultural processes. As the population increased, the demand for basic needs, that is for food and fibre, increased, and hence, the use of energy for their production increased steadily. However, all of this energy came from renewable sources. It is only during the last 100 years or so that man has come to rely mostly on non-renewable sources of energy in the form of fossil fuels. These fuels are basically used for the production of agricultural machinery, fertilizers, chemicals, etc., and to operate agricultural equipment, electric motors and diesel engines. With the introduction of high-yielding varieties of crops, demand for fertilizers and chemicals increased as did the frequency of irrigation. In the year 1978-79, the total commercial energy input in the Punjab was about 453 705 TJ; the direct energy supplied in the form of diesel fuel and electricity 180994TJ; 43 935 TJ was employed as indirect energy in the form of farm equipment and 228 776 TJ as fertilizers and chemicals.1 It may be noted that fertilizers and chemicals are very energy intensive commodities and account for almost 50% of the total commercial energy input. Agricultural production in the Punjab is energy intensive. With the introduction of high-yielding crop varieties and farm mechanisation, the energy input has increased significantly. During 1965-66 to 1979-80, agricultural production increased by 175 percent, the total energy consumption by 387 percent and commercial energy consumption by 1225 percent. 2 The state of Punjab is divided into six agro-climatic zones viz., sub mountainous undulating zone, undulating zone, undulating plain zone, central plain zone, western zone and flood plain zone. Because of the vast associated changes in agro-climatic conditions, the distribution of energy consumption has not been uniform throughout the state. Also, the economic status of a farmer governs the level of energy input being applied to the crop through various sources. This paper discusses the energy consumption under different farming systems prevailing in the state of Punjab for wheat cultivation. MATERIALS AND METHODS A survey was conducted in the state of Punjab (India) to study the energy-use pattern under various farming systems for the cultivation of the wheat crop. The categorisation of the farming systems was mainly based on the type of

Energr-use patterns oltDrming sv,vtems in Pwt/ah

263

agricultural machinery used and the irrigation facilities available. Thus, the farming systems in the state of Punjab were divided into four categories, traditional (rain-fed), improved traditional (partially irrigated), semiintensive {irrigated) and intensive (irrigated using improved equipment). Further, the farmers in each farming system were grouped into four calegories based on land holdings. These four groups were: marginal farmers (area < l h a ) ; small farmers (area 1 to <2ha); medium farmers (area 2 to <4ha); large farmers (area >4ha). A total of 228 farmers were selected from all the farming systems and farmers' categories. By interviewing the farmers, the data on energy used in raising wheat crop were collected on specially designed and pretested questionnaires. The questionnaire included data concerning all kinds of inputs supplied to the crop, agricultural machinery, human and animal power used in various farm operations and yields. These data were analysed statistically and used to TABLE i

Energy Coefficients used in Energy Calculations ~ [~]Ht'r,k,y soltrc~,

Human labour Bullocks Diesel Electricity

Fertilizer Nitrogen P205 K ,O Farm yard manure ('heroical Superior chemicals h

Zinc sulphate Infcrior chernicals' Wheal Seed, grain Straw Machinery" Electric motor Prime movers (other than electric motor) Farm machinery

~ till

Equit'alenl cm,rg.v (,,14J)

M an-hour Pair-hour

1-96 I0 10

Litre kWh

56-31 I t 93

kg kg kg kg {dry)

60'00 I 1"10 670 0.30

kg kg kg

120-00 20-9(I 1000

kg kg

147(/ 1250

kg

64-80

kg kg

68-40 62'70

" Assumes the use o f the machinery occurs equall3 over the total life span o f the machinery (in hours). Chemicals that require dilution at the time of addition. ' Chemicals that do not require dilution tit the time of addition.

264

Surendra Singh, J. P. Mittal, M. P. Singh, R. Bakhshi

calculate the operational and source-type energy requirements. The output energy from grain yield and by-product and output-input ratios were also calculated. The energy coefficients used in the energy calculations are given in Table 1. RESULTS A N D DISCUSSION

Operational energy requirements for raising the wheat crop under different farming systems are given in Table 2. The total energy requirements were 2776, 9710, 8551 and 9041 MJ/ha for farming systems (1), (2), (3) and (4), respectively. Farming system (1) required the least energy as the crop was TABLE 2 Operational Requirements for Raising a Wheat Crop Operation

Energy requirements (M J/ha) ~ Farming system (1)

Seedbed preparation Sowing Bund making

Irrigation Weeding Fertilizer application Spraying

Farming system (2)

Mean

SD h

Mean

1 430 (51.5) 208 (7.5) 9 (0.3) 17 (0.6) 157 (5.7) 14 (0.5) --

763

1 592 693 (16.4) 238 88 (2"5) 60 194 (0.6) 5 565 9 250 (57"3) 288 80 (3-0) 10 30 (0-1) ---

76 31

41 72 30

SD b

Farming system (3)

Farming system (4)

Mean

SD b

Mean

SD h

1 343 (15.7) 291 (3.4) 31 (0.4) 4 105 (48.0) 56 (0-7) 10 (0.1)

1 456

1 814 (20.1) 447 (4.9) 52 (0"6) 3 047 (33.7) 7 (0.1) l0 (0.1)

869

397 51

1 497 132 4

12

44

(0.1) Harvesting and threshing Transportation Post harvest activities Total

799 (28-8) 67 (2"4) 75 (2"7) 2 776

(100.0)

544 96 159

! 467 (15-1) 282 (2'9) 208 (2.1) 9 710

(100.0)

797 447 355

2 301 (26"9) 163 (1.9) 239 (2"8) 8 551

5

288 44

926 30 3

5

(-~0) 569 117 175

(100-00)

a Figures in parentheses are the percentages of the total energy used. b Standard deviation.

3 460 (38"3) 199 (2.2) 0 9041

(100-0)

2 081 126 0

265

Energy-use patterns o[ /arming systems in Punjab

rainfed. In this system, the seed-bed preparation required 51-5% of the energy followed by harvesting and threshing (28"8%) and sowing (7"5%). Farming system (2) required the greatest energy input compared with the other farming systems. Irrigation required 57.3% of the energy followed by seed-bed preparation (16.4%) and harvesting and threshing (15.1%). It is worthwhile mentioning here that farming systems (1) and (2) are the submountainous undulating zone and the crops are grown under rain-fed conditions. However, the installation of a 35 kW motor in one village where the survey was conducted could meet some of the irrigation requirements of the village. Moreover, the energy consumption by irrigation in this village is very high as compared with other farming systems. This is mainly because of the undulating ground conditions and the distance between the field and the motor. Also, it did not meet the full irrigation requirements. The energy requirements for irrigation were 48% and 33.7% in farming systems (3) and TABLE 3 Source-wise Energy Requirements for Raising a Wheat Crop Energy

Energy requirements (,klJ/ha)"

SOlIYCe

Farming system (I)

Human Animal

Farming system (2)

SD b

Mean

SD h

Mean

SD b

Mean

SD #

601 (ll.l) 814

174

884 (6'5t 785 (5-8) 2493 t18"4) 5265 (388) 1166 (8-6)

189

929 (4'8) 124 (0"61 4460 (23'1t 2874 (14-9) 1341 (6-9)

295

704 (3-6) 251 (t3) 5 508 (28-4) ~34~ (121) 1546 (8"01

194

320

1 302 124. I )

1 316

Electricity Seed Farmyard manure Fertilizer

1 168 (21-61

332

1 471 (27.2)

852

2810 120-7)

358 2094 9117 287

1587

Chemical Machinery

56

(I.O) Total

k~trmin~ system (41

Mean

(15.0) Diesel

f'arming system (3)

5 412 (100.0)

58

167 (1.2) 13 570 (100"0)

202

" Figures in parentheses are percentages of the total. b Standard deviation.

9 253 (47.9) 141 (0-7) 206 (l.l) 19 328 (lO0"O)

174 698 1741 137

1961 77 67

8665 (44-8) 116 (06) 236 (1.2) 19 368 (100'0)

39t 3 373 1~59_, 136

2253

91 123

266

Surendra Singh, J. P. Mittal, M. P. Singh, R. Bakhshi

(4), respectively. It is also interesting to note that seed-bed preparation, which was the second largest energy consuming operation after irrigation in farming systems, came third in farming systems (3) and (4). Harvesting and threshing was the second largest energy consuming operation after irrigation and consumed about 27% and 38% of the energy in farming systems (3) and (4), respectively. High values of standard deviation indicate the variations in the energy requirements of various operations from farmer to farmer. Table 3 gives the source-wise energy requirements for raising a wheat crop. The fertilizer required the largest energy input of all the farming systems except for farming system (2), for which the energy requirement was largest for electricity (38"8%). The fertilizer required 27"2%, 20"7%, 47"9% and 44-8% of the total energy input for farming systems (1), (2), (3) and (4), respectively. It is followed by diesel fuel and electricity demands. The energy input through machinery increased from 56 M J/ha for farming system (1) to 236 M J/ha for system (4). Similarly, the total energy input increased from 5412 M J/ha for farming system (1) to 19 368 M J/ha for system (4). The total energy input requirements under the various farming systems are reported in Table 4. There is no significant difference in energy input requirement for the different categories of farmers except for the two cases in farming system (4). Similarly, there is no significant difference at the 5% level in grain yield values for different categories of farmers in all farming systems (Table 5). However, there is a significant difference in yield values obtained for different farming systems for all categories of farmers. Therefore, energy input level has a significant effect on the grain yield. Grain yield has increased from 612kg/ha in farming system (1) to 4677 kg/ha in farming system (4) (Table 6). So it is clear from Tables 3 and 6 that, as the energy input through machinery and total energy input increases, the grain yield increases. However, this is not the case with fertilizer. If the fertilizer input is increased beyond a certain level, the grain yield decreases. Here again, the fertilizer input has increased from 1471 M J/ha for farming system (1) to 9253 M J/ha for farming system (3) and was 8665 M J/ha for farming system (4) against the recommended dose of 7767 M J/ha (Table 3). So, this may be one of the reasons why the grain yield has decreased in the case of farming system (3) as the total energy input level is almost the same for both farming systems (3) and (4). The specific energy requirement was a maximum (8-84 MJ/kg) for farming system (1) and was lowest (4"14 MJ/kg) for farming system (4) (Table 6). On the other hand, the output-input ratio, in terms of energy, was a maximum (5.9) for farming system (4) and lowest (2"8) for farming system (1). Therefore, better energy management occurs in farming systems (3) and (4). There is further scope for increasing machinery use as it might increase the yield.

Energy-use patterns of lilrming .s')'.s'tems in Pun/ah TABLE

267

4

T o t a l E n e r g y I n p u t (M J / h a ) in R a i s i n g a W h e a t C r o p u n d e r Different F a r m i n g S y s t e m s

Farm

Farmin,~ system"

t-~ahte,~

('~IIcgoFF 111

121

13)

(41 -

Marginal {Ma) Small (S) Medium (MI Large (L) /-Values (Ma} (S) ( M a l - (M) {Ma) (L) IS) (MI (SI (L) IMI (L)

4576 (840) 5410 (1956) 5339 11 553) 5694 (21121

8740 13 124) 18440 (12639) 12483 (10153) 13233 19980}

0"86 1.(X) 1"11 0"10 11'36 0.54

1"81 0"84 1.04 1"37 1"31 0-21

19575 14681) 19909 {27371 18964 (2 126) 19351 (2791) 0"18 0"48 0.17 1"09 0"58 0.59

22075 (01 16794 (50371 17948 (3841) 21411 13555)

I1) (21

4-33"

12) (31

121 ~4)

6.4 "h 17.01 h 4.44 ~'

3.61"

0.47

11.41

14~4

1.94 h

1-06

(11 13)

3.48 ~ 13.74"

(l) (4j

6.70 h 11.26

2.69 ~' 21.5t/' 18.09 b 3.00 h

3.14 ~ 18-6t) h 15.36 h 3.62 h 2.86"

13) 14~

2.18 ~'

0"92 I'11 0.17 0"63 2"39b 2-60 h

" Figures in parentheses indicate the standard de'dation. h Significant at the 5% level.

TABLE 5 G r a i n Yield (kg/ha) for W h e a t u n d e r Different F a r m i n g S y s t e m s

Farming system"

Farm ('~IICI{Or.F

Marginal Small Medium Large I-Values Ma S Ma- M Ma L S M S L M L

t-rahw.~

(/1

12)

13)

14)

341 (71) 703 1512) 744 (550) 514 1512)

1 352 (529) l 945 t609) 1 484 (542) 1 656 (453)

3 730 1232) 3 776 {134) 3 791 (370) 3 803 (247)

4942 (0) 4638 (481) 4586 (443) 4657 (41 I)

1-48 1.55 0.72 0-20 0"97 1"24

1"88 0-50 1"33 1-93 1"45 0"96

0-50 0.40 I)'72 0.13 0'35 0' 15

0.56 0.76 0.65 I).25 0-09 0.44

" Figures in parentheses indicate the standard deviation. h Significant at the 5% level.

il) -(21

ill 131

1/I (4)

12) -13J

121 14)

13) 141

3,83 ~' 28.91P 52.75 b 9-9(P 5.74h 4.52 h 5,07 h 18.45 h 16-36h 9.28 b 9.80 h 5.34~ 3,64 ~' 20.65 b 21.08 h 15.55 ~ 16.96 ~ 6.05 h 7.19 h 33-30h 24-17 b 23.70 h 19.15 h 9.16 ~

268

Surendra Singh, J. F. Mittal, M. P. Singh, R. Bakhshi TABLE 6

Grain Yield, Output-Input Ratio and Energy Requirement from Various Sources in Different Wheat Crop Farming Systems Parameter

Farming s)'stem a

(l) Grain yield (kg/ha) Specific energy (MJ/kg) Output energy (MJ/ha) Output input ratio Renewable energy (M J/ha) Non-renewable energy (M J/ha) Commercial energy (MJ/ha) Non-commercial energy (MJ/ha)

(2)

(3)

(4)

612

1 632

3 790

4 677

8.84

8'31

5. I0

4.14

14982

41 997

100592

114500

2.8 2 583 (47.7) 2 829 (52.3) 3997 (73-9) 1415 (26.1)

3.1 2 967 (21.9) 10 603 (78.1) 11 827 (87.2) 1 743 (12.8)

5.2 2 394 (12-4) 16 934 (87.6) 18275 (94.6) 1 053 (5-4)

5"9 2 501 (12.9) 16 867 (87.1) 18413 (95.1) 955 (4'9)

a Figures in parentheses are percentages of the totals. However, the use o f fertilizer b e y o n d the r e c o m m e n d e d dose should be restricted as it might affect the yield adversely. W h e a t cultivation n o w a d a y s is m a i n l y d e p e n d e n t on the n o n - r e n e w a b l e a n d c o m m e r c i a l energy sources. It requires a b o u t 87% o f the total energy input to be f r o m n o n - r e n e w a b l e energy sources and 9 5 % in the f o r m o f c o m m e r c i a l energy sources if irrigation is also considered. These percentages go d o w n to 52% a n d 74%, respectively, under rain-fed conditions. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The financial s u p p o r t by I.C.A.R. (New Delhi) for the project ' E n e r g y R e q u i r e m e n t s in the Agricultural Sector' is gratefully acknowledged. REFERENCES 1. V. K. Mittal, J. P. Mittal and K. C. Dhawan, Research digest on energy requirements in the agricultural sector (1971-82), College of Agricultural Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India (1985). 2. B. S. Pathak, Energy demand growth in Punjab agriculture and the changes in agricultural production, Energy in Agriculture, 4(1), pp. 67-78 (1985).