Description

While energy is a crucial input in the process of crop production, use of more and efficient energy facilitates life and helps mankind making it comfortable. This book is based on the outcome of the doctoral study aimed to investigate the use of energy and its efficiency in rural areas particularly dryland agriculture in Tamil Nadu. It covers a crosssection analysis of four categories of farmers (marginal, small, medium and large), two major pattern of crop production (irrigated and unirrigated) and two types of operations (bullock operated and tractor operated) in Tamil Nadu. Further, it enumerates the energy sources used for different crops and its enduses viz, human, animal, mechanical, chemical and electrical. It examins the impacts of energy inputs and outputs of selected crops of dryland areas and to recommend sustainable energy management strategies needed for carrying out agricultural operations by using alternate and renewable energy sources.