Introduction: Mechanization is one of the main factors in the development of agriculture. Agricultural mechanization, as a basic approach in the production of agricultural products, provides goals such as timely performance of agricultural operations, reduction of production costs, reduction of labor intensity, quantitative and qualitative improvement of production and, in principle, the possibility of Economic production. There are inequalities in the development of agricultural mechanization, which is partly affected by natural factors, but human factors also play a significant role in its occurrence. Planning for the development of mechanization is one of the most important components in the development plan of the agricultural sector. The requirement for correct planning regarding agricultural mechanization depends on recognition of the existing situation. Knowing and evaluating the development indices of rice mechanization is necessary for the correct selection and optimal use of rice machines and timely and quality agricultural operations to be used as basic information in the calculation of rice mechanization projects and economic analyses. In this research, the indices of rice mechanization in the central and southern regions of Gilan province were studied with the aim of estimating the number of machines needed in rice cultivation.
Materials and Methods: Gilan province is one of the northern provinces of Iran, with an area of 14711 square kilometers which stands the second ranking (31% of total) in terms of area harvested. A study was conducted during the years 2020 and 2021 for determination of indices that govern the mechanization development in the central and southern regions of Gilan province. The studied areas were as rasht and khomam (in the central areas of Gilan province) with an area under rice cultivation of 62430 hectares and roudbar (in the southern areas of Gilan province) with an area under rice cultivation of 3375 hectares. The field method or field study was employed in terms of broad-based (holistic) and deep-based (depth-based) methods and its subset based on questionnaire for data collection in this research. Due to the lack of access to all villages of each city, one village was randomly selected and after checking their conditions, the relative homogeneity of the area was determined and the obtained information was generalized to other places. Collecting of data was done by completing the questionnaires through available statistical sources, field surveys and interviews with farmers. Data were collected from reliable authorities such as the Gilan agricultural jihad organization, agricultural jihad management of the cities, agricultural jihad centers, and the statistics of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad. From the obtained data, the indices determining the state of mechanization, working days and farm productivity were calculated.
Results and Discussion: The results revealed that in the central and southern regions of Gilan, the degree of mechanization was 65.1 and 78.9 percent, the level of mechanization was 2.71 and 9.12, horsepower per hectare and the average capacity of mechanization was 415.74 and 782.10 horsepower in hour per hectare, respectively. On average, in the central and southern regions, there was one tractor for every 35 and 5 hectares, a tiller for every 5 and 11 hectares, a transplanter for every 46 and 31 hectares, and a combine harvester for every 88 and 56 hectares, respectively. According to the results, the number of machines in the tilling and spraying stages is more than the estimated number of machines in the studied areas. The number of available machines in the central areas was 77.1 and 55% more in tillage and 35.6 and 41.2 percent less in planting and 25.8 percent more in the southern areas in tillage and 79.7 percent and in 56.4 plantings and 2.3 percent less than the estimated number.
Conclusion: The degree of mechanization for tillage and transplanting operations in the central and southern regions of Gilan province demonstrated a good circumstance based on the sixth state plan of development. According to the expectations, by the end of the sixth development plan, the degree of mechanization in plant protection and harvesting operations, there is a need to reinforce and import more machines. The level of rice mechanization was higher in the south region than the central. From the above-mentioned reasons, the level of mechanization of rice in the southern region can be attributed to the multiple usage of the driving machines for paddy fields and other crops, the low area under rice cultivation and the large number of tillers and tractors, the lack of companies providing mechanized services, and little time available to farmers to carry out land preparation, transplanting, protection, and harvesting in these regions. The findings also showed that tractors and tillers, which were the most important sources of power supply, were not evenly distributed across the central and southern regions. In some cases, tractors and tillers were used in irrelevant tasks such as transportation and handling. According to the results, in the stages of tillage and spraying, the number of available machines is more than the estimated ones in the studied regions. According to the results, the number of machines available in the central areas in Tillage (Primary tillage, Secondary tillage, Puddling, Leveling) is 77.1% and Plant Protection (spraying and weeding) 55% more and in planting 35.6 and harvesting (Rice reaper, rice combine harvester, baler) 41.2 percent less than the estimated number. The number of machines available in the southern regions in tillage is 79.7% and harvesting 25.8% percent more and in planting 56.4 and Plant Protection 2.3% percent less than the estimated number. The comparison of the current conditions of these areas with the estimate shows that there is no proper planning in the supply and distribution of agricultural machines according to the cultivated areas. This shows the necessity of planning to establish more balance to create appropriate and homogeneous conditions for the distribution of agricultural machines in the studied regions. Keywords: Field Efficiency, Mechanization Index, Number of Machines, Rice, time opportunity, Working days.