Human Power
- Human beings are the main source of power for operating small tools and implements.
- They are also employed for doing stationary work like threshing, winnowing, chaff cutting and lifting irrigation Water.
- On the average a man develops nearly 0.I horsepower (hp.).
- Therefore, the total power available through human source may be about 2.2 crore hp.
Managing Labor Peaks
- In crop production system, labor peaks develop due to high labor demands in operations, which cannot be or have not been mechanized so far.
- The operations like transplanting of paddy, weeding and inter-culture operations or harvesting of crops demand large number of human labor on each of the farms in the region.
- Such peaks have got to be managed if one desires to have high return from his enterprise.
- In general, the peaks are managed as follows:
i) Increasing the working hours.
ii) Extending the time period of operations.
iii) Adjusting the cropping pattern.
iv) Mechanizing the operations, wherever possible.
v) Decreasing the intensity of some operations.
Advantages:
- Easily available and used for all types of work.
Disadvantages:
- Costliest power compared to all other farms of power
- very low efficiency
- requires full maintenance when not in use and affected by weather condition and seasons