Energy use pattern among the major crops in agriculture in thoothukudi district tamil nadu

Abstract

With the spread of new agricultural technology, requirement increased use of mechanical power and high pay off inputs and non-conventional energy sources such as diesel, petrol and electricity is steadily increasing in rural areas. Paradoxically, at the same time, the supply of these sources of energy is becoming scarce and it threatens to grow into a critical proportion. This in turn results in the high cost of production of crops with its chain of reactions ultimately affecting the consumers. A solution to this problem is to go for renewable sources of energy at a faster rate. Another way is to discover and to put to use other possible substitutes such as solar energy, wind energy, atomic power, thermal power and gobar gas. However, planning for the development of these resources and developing infrastructure to facilitate their use by the farmers are long term processes. Therefore, it becomes an important and urgent need to find out a way for the problems of rural households in their energy use in agriculture. The present study is undertaken towards this by evaluating the present status of energy use by agricultural sector and by giving useful resource management plans for the villagers. newline