Indian agriculture industries have seen significant growth in the last few decades. Agriculture and allied industries remain first in providing a livelihood to the Indian population. However, due to inheritance land law, the size of operational holdings has kept decreasing. Around 86% of total holdings fall under small and marginal farms. These farms are facing problems such as lack of implementation of new technology, proper marketing of agriculture products, infrastructure, and mobility for agriculture sectors. For generations, small and marginal farmers are following manual land preparation methods because current machines are not suitable for their operational holdings. Even though India is the world’s largest manufacturer and the market for agriculture machinery, it lacks behind in providing a mobility solution for small and marginal farms.

This project aimed to design a new compact agriculture vehicle which can perform various agriculture practices such as ploughing, tilling, puddling, sowing, & harvesting for small and marginal farms. For this project, a user study was conducted by visiting small and marginal farmers in Gujarat and Maharashtra to understand their methods of farming, problems with current agriculture machines, and needs. The design brief was generated based on insights from this study and led to the generation of different concepts which can perform multiple land preparation activities in one go. These concepts were evaluated on several parameters, and the most suitable concept was further detailed.

The final concept is battery operated and can perform different paddy cultivation operations in one go and does not require implementation changes. Unlike conventional farming machines, the new vehicle is compact, has better ergonomics and circularly performs farming operations.

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• Mobility Design Intervention for Paddy Cultivation......