UNTAPPED POTENTIAL

Draught animals in the country can generate 21,924 million kW of annual energy if they work roughly 5 hours a day, says Din. Only 25 per cent of this potential (4,263 million kW) is currently being utilised because the average usage of a draught animal is less than an hour a day, Din adds. If the potential is put to use, draught animals can meet the power needs of 44 per cent of the country’s net sown area, up from the current level of around 20 per cent.

Optimal utilisation of draught animals can reduce the farm sector’s fossil fuel expenditure by `60,000 crore, says a December 2018 report on increased utilisation of draught animals, released by Bhopal-based Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering, under the Indian Council of Agricultural

Research. The sector can also reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 13 million tonnes a year if it can gainfully employ the 30.77 million bullocks available with the farmers. The emissions saved are equivalent to what almost 3,000 cars emit in a year. The calculation is based on the 2018 report’s assumption that diesel consumption rate per tractor per year comes to about 3.25 tonne and one kg diesel releases 3 kg of CO2.

Promoting the use of draught animals can also help India increase its share of organic farming. Animals eat crop residue and produce manure, which enhances the productivity of soil. The dung is a source of biogas, which is a renewable energy, says the 2018 report. It adds that almost 90 per cent of farmers going organic have small and marginal land holdings.

Rao says the transition to draught animals is possible since farming communities across India already use bullocks for varied farm activities. “While we had to train tribal farmers in Visakhapatnam to use bullocks for sowing and weeding, their counterparts in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra