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April Guest of the Month : Prof. Dr. Can Ertekin
According to the statement of the United Nations in November 2022, the population of the World exceeded 8 billion people. In the same year, the population of Türkiye was reported to be 85.3 million. Agriculture will continue to play an important role as long as there is a need to feed this population. Agriculture is of great importance to the entire World population, it has been a basic resource since the dawn of mankind, and it requires continuity, unaffected by anything that happens in the World. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that more and more people in the World are suffering from hunger.
When the amount of agricultural production in our country is evaluated, it was about 70.2 million tons of grain and other crops, 31.6 million tons of vegetables, 26.8 million tons of fruits, beverage and spice plants in 2022. The value of the agricultural gross domestic product in 2022 is given as $58.5 billion at current prices.
As mentioned above, despite the continuous increase in population, the need for more efficient production from unit area is inevitable as a result of the decrease in agricultural employment, the aging of the population engaged in farming, and the decrease in both agricultural land and water resources. For this purpose, the use of all new technologies has become a necessity.
Agricultural mechanization is of great importance in terms of increasing the efficiency of all agricultural inputs in agricultural production, ensuring their affordability and improving their working conditions. When it comes to agricultural mechanization, the first basic tool that comes to mind is the tractor, which is also the main source of power in agriculture, but we should not forget the equipments used to carry out all kinds of necessary operations. The number of tractors in our country increased from 654 thousand in 1988 to 1.5 million in 2022, the number of combine harvesters from 12.5 thousand in 2000 to 20.2 thousand in 2022, the number of balers from 9 thousand in 2003 to 34 thousand in 2022, fruit harvesters from 122 to 31.7 thousand in the same years, cotton pickers from 31 in 2003 to 1532 in 2022. In addition to this numerical increase, there have also been significant improvements in both tractors and agricultural machinery equipments. In the case of tractors, for example, there has been a continuous reduction in their weight and an increase in their power. While the first tractors were used only for towing, modern tractors are capable of performing all agricultural activities. In addition, while they were only suitable for rear-mounted equipment, today they can also work with equipment that can be mounted on the front or side of the tractor and mounted on the tractor. Tractor lifting mechanisms were first operated manually, then mechanically, and today hydraulic systems are used with varying capabilities and features. We cannot end with these developments, and we must emphasize that the ongoing developments are aimed at ensuring that the operator works comfortably and safely, and is also economical in terms of fuel consumption.
Let's try to give some examples of how work efficiency is affected by the use of agricultural machinery:
• In manual planting, a worker can plant 6 seedlings per minute and 360 seedlings per hour. When potted (with soil) seedling planters are used, 1000-1200 seedlings can be planted per hour, and 1200-1500 seedlings can be planted in soilless seedling planters.
• If cotton is harvested manually, a maximum of 250 kg of cotton can be harvested with 14-15 hours of work per day. It is possible to harvest 0.5 hectares per hour with a 2-row cotton picker mounted on the back of a tractor, 2500 kg per hour with a yield of about 500 kg, 1 hectares or 5 tons per hour with a self-propelled 4-row cotton harvester, 3 hectares or 15 tons per hour with a 6-row machine.
• As it is known, hoeing is also a very tiring and time-consuming process. In a field with little weed, one person doing the hoeing along with the earthing up work can do 0.16 hectares of work in about 8 hours, and 0.32 hectares of work if they are only hoeing the weeds. With a tractor-mounted 3-row cultivator, 6 hectares of land can be cultivated in 8 hours with weed control and earthing up, and 10 hectares of land can be cultivated in the same time with a 5-row cultivator.
• It should be noted that agricultural mechanization equipment, i.e. a drip or sprinkler irrigation system, should be used to ensure more efficient use of water, especially with regard to drought, which is on the agenda this year. The number of these examples can be increased as many as desired, and it is clear that the use of machinery will increase the efficiency of work many times over, thus saving labor, inputs, time and production costs.
Another point that should not be forgotten is that the selection of the appropriate equipment for the work to be done is an important factor in the planning and use of mechanization. It is also important that the tractor is selected according to the size of the enterprise and that the equipment to be used is compatible with the tractor. Thus, fuel consumption, which constitutes a significant portion of the total operating costs of these machines, will be significantly reduced. It has been reported that simply increasing the tillage depth from 20 cm to 25 cm would increase fuel consumption by approximately 25%. For this reason, in addition to using the right tractor and equipment, proper adjustment and regular maintenance, test reports, user comments and manufacturer recommendations are very important to ensure maximum efficiency.
In addition, instead of traditional methods, it is necessary to use equipment suitable with modern, advanced production technologies that can be realized in a short time with minimal interference with nature and minimal environmental damage. Instead of these traditional machines, the use of precision agricultural machines, or in other words, smart agricultural machines, has become increasingly important in recent years. In this period, tractors and agricultural machinery equipment working together will be in communication with satellites. Operators will be able to see in advance which part of the field they will apply pesticides or fertilizers to, the condition of the soil and the estimated harvest time. This will reduce the workload of farmers and increase productivity while protecting the environment. When the automatic steering system is considered, the soil can be cultivated without being affected by weather conditions, even at night, without leaving any gaps between rows or overlapping, and pesticide and fertilizer savings can be achieved. Considering agricultural spraying, a field sprayer traveling at 8 km/h can spray 5-6 hectares per hour with a 12 m working width and 11-12 hectares with a 24 m working width. In contrast, a drone with a working width of 5 m can spray 6 hectares per hour, while a drone with a working width of 10 m can spray 17-20 hectares per hour.
As a result, with the use of appropriate agricultural mechanization equipment in agriculture, it is possible to produce more products at lower cost and with less environmental pollution. I would like to conclude my article with Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s speech to the farmers in Kastamonu in 1925: “As a farmer myself, I know that there is no agriculture without machinery. Manual labor is power. Unite. You can buy machinery with unions. Instead of planting a hundred hectares a year, you will plant ten times, a hundred times more”.
BIOGRAPHY
Prof. Dr. Can Ertekin was born in Karşıyaka/İzmir in 1970. He received his bachelor’s degree from Ege University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Machinery in 1991, and his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Akdeniz University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Machinery and Technologies Engineering in 1995 and 2001, respectively. He received the title of Associate Professor in 2006 and Professor in 2012. He has published about 180 international/national articles in English and Turkish. He is currently working as a faculty member at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Machinery and Technologies Engineering and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Agricultural Machinery Association.
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