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POWER AVAILABILITY AND REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL-SCALE 
RICE FARM OPERATIONS: A CASE IN RIAU PROVINCE, INDONESIA 

 
Ujang Paman1*, Shigeki Inaba2 and Susumu Uchida3 

 
1 The United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kagoshima University, Japan and Permanent 

address: Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Riau Islamic University, Jalan 
Kaharuddin Nasution No. 113 Perhentian Marpoyan Pekanbaru 28284 Riau, Indonesia. 

2Associate Professor, Department of Environment Sciences, Saga University, Saga City, Japan 
3Professor Emeritus of Saga University, Saga City, Japan.  
*Corresponding Author: E-mail: u_paman@yahoo.com 

 

Abstract 

The objective of this study was to identify the power availability and requirement for small-scale rice 

farming operations in Riau Province. Primary and secondary data were gathered from different sources. 

A total of 120 farmers were interview to collect data primer from two selected rice centers in two 

regencies of the province during the 2008 rainy cropping season.  As a result, the availability of farm 

power still is very low, although showing an increasing trend during a period of 1997-06 primarily for 

mechanical power unit. During the same period, the stage of rice mechanization process has also been 

relatively low and still below the take-off stage in critical point of the mechanization process.  Under 

these conditions, it was analyzed that the increased number of farm power has no effect on total 

cultivated area and yield of rice over the years.  The main sources of farm power practiced by rice 

farmers are human labor and mechanical power, while draught animal was not used in Riau rice farming 

operations anymore.  Mechanical power is just used to perform land preparation, threshing and milling 

operations, while other farm operations are still done completely by manual.  The total power required 

per hectare of rice farm operations was 418 kW (561 hp) on average.  Although mechanized farm 

operations need more power, the total operation hours would decrease significantly.  The results suggest 

that efforts should be taken to continuously encourage farmers to adopt mechanical power technologies 

in order to carry out farm operations timely and short period, and to make rice production process more 

productive and efficient. 

Key words: Power availability and requirement, Small-scale rice operation, Human power, Animal 
power, Mechanical power 

 

 



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Introduction 

Mechanization has well recognized as an important input to modernize agricultural production 

system.  It involves the provision and use of all forms of principal power sources from human, draught 

animal and to mechanical power (Sahay, 2004; Sims and Kienzle, 2006; Bishop, 2007).  The 

appropriate choice and use of farm machinery and equipment have a direct effect on the area under 

cultivation, the timeliness of operation and the effective use of others input (Bishop, 1997). Therefore, 

many developing countries have made the extra effort to mechanize farming by increasing use of 

mechanical power technologies.  However, human being and draught animal power still play a vital 

role in many farming systems especially on smaller and poorer farms in Asia (Lawrence and Pearson, 

2002).  While in Indonesia and other developing countries of South and Southeast Asia, about 60% to 

70% of the rice area is prepared manually by human labor and harvested by knife or sickle.  From 

Asian countries was also reported that 30% of land is cultivated by hand, 30% by draught animals, and 

40% by tractors (FAO, 2008).   

The general purpose of farm mechanization is to replace human muscle and animal power with 

mechanical power (Saegusa, 1975).  Based on the past experience, mechanization transition from hand 

tools through animal-drawn implements until the application of mechanical power was not a simple 

process.  The transition process becomes difficult and needs time because it has to involve a number of 

technical, economic and social problems (Sakai et al., 1986).  Gego (1986) studied that it would take 

some 30 to 50 years to undergo these development processes.  In addition, Depeng et al. (1983) stated 

that agricultural condition, farm management, management scale, economic condition, technical level 

of manufacture, farmer’s experience, etc. affect the use and development of mechanical power.  

The degree of mechanization used in agriculture is greatly different among the various 

countries of the world.  In Indonesia, the use of mechanical power in agriculture especially in domain 

of mechanization for rice cultivation has been showing an increasing trend, although the pace is slow. 

In the early 1980s, for instance, the rice farming has been mainly dependent on animal and human 

power with limited use of power tillers and mechanical threshers (Singh, 1984). About ten years later, 

the power input has still come from human and animal power with an increased use of mechanical 

power (Salokhe and Hendriadi, 1995). Currently, the level of mechanization in the country varies from 

low to high primarily in rice cultivation, ranging from 10% to 90% depends on the intensity of the 

farming system and common figure indicates its average level of 30% (Handaka, 2005).   

In Riau province, mechanizing rice farming, which is predominantly small-scale farmers and 

subsistent level in production (Paman, et al, 2010), remains to be a priority concern of provincial 



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government in order to provide staple food for majority of population of the province. Although rice 

mechanization has seen a rather slow progress, currently, mechanical power is gradually taking over 

mainly the power-intensive farm operations such as land preparation, threshing, lift irrigation, drying, 

and milling.  It is important that the adequate availability of power sources in rice farming is very 

crucial for successful and timely operations.  The purpose of this study is to identify the power source 

and requirement for small-scale rice farming operations in Riau province.  

Materials and Methods 

Two rice production centers from two regencies in Riau province, namely; Bunga Raya in Siak 

Regency and Bangkinang Seberang in Kampar Regency were selected as the survey areas. Both 

locations were purposively selected to represent an average condition of the most intensive farming 

system of the rice production and the highest level of mechanization adopted in the province.  A 

sample of 60 farmers from each survey location or 120 farmers for total were chosen randomly and 

interviewed personally by using the structured questionnaires. The farmers in the survey areas own 

land and use farm machines for performing in some rice operation works.  The survey was carried out 

during 2008 rainy cropping season which is the main season for rice growing in the province. During 

the season (September – February), the growing of rice on 90 to 100% area is possible (Khan, 1996). 

This study used primary and secondary data.  Primary data consisted of cropping patterns, time 

and power requirement for each rice operation of rice cultivation. Furthermore, secondary data were 

obtained from Food Crops Service and Statistical Bureau of Riau province. The data included 

population of farm machines on farm (unit), rice harvested area (ha), rice yield (ton/ha), and annual 

rice production (ton).  Data were tabulated and afterward analyzed using descriptive analyses. 

Results and Discussion 

Availability of Farm Machines and Power    

According to figure 1, the significant development of major farm machines in Riau Province 

such tractors, water pumps, power thresher, and rice milling unit has been started in 2001 when 

farmers begin to purchase the machines individually and use them on their rice farms.  The increased 

availability of farm machines in the province has brought about the changing trends in the use of 

mechanization technology from manual tools to mechanical power.  The number of pedal thresher, for 

example, decreased constantly during a period of 1997-06 replaced by power thresher which increased 

during the same period. 



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The increasing use of mechanical power becomes increasingly important amid increasing 

average age of farmers and decreasing human labor availability due to less attracted of young 

generation in agricultural activities.  Moreover, Jacobs and Harrell (1983) claimed that the number of 

people employed in agriculture production has declined as improved mechanization technology.  These 

conditions would cause the human labor becomes more and more scarce and costly in rice production. 

According to Herdt (1983), four critical point in the mechanization process are the initial stage; the 

early stage with about 2.5 hand tractors/1000 ha; the take-off stage with about 20 hand tractors/1000 

ha; and the full mechanization with about 1000 hand tractors/1000 ha.  Starting in 2000, mechanization 

of rice farming in Riau Province was entering the early stage with nearly 2.0 hand tractors/1000 ha on 

average (Figure 2a and 2b).  Thereafter, the mechanization stage increased significantly with peak 

number of about 7.6 hand tractors/1000 ha in 2003, but the average stage considered relatively low to 

about 4.7 hand tractor /1000 ha of cultivated area and below the take-off stage in critical point of the 

mechanization process. The result indicates that farm mechanization development in the province has 

seen a rather slow progress over the years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0

300

600

900

1200

1500

1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007

N
o.

 o
f m

ac
hi

ne
s 

in
 th

ou
sa

nd

Years
Large tractors Small tractors
Water pumps Reapers
Power threshers Dryers
Rice milling unit 

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

N
o.

  o
f 

ha
nd

 to
ot

s 
in

 th
ou

sa
nd

Years
Pedal threshers Hand sprayers
Smooth sickles Serrated sickles

 
(a)                                                                      (b) 

 
Fig 1. Number of major farm machines (a) and hand tools (b) on farm, 1996-06. 

 



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95

105

115

125

135

0

2

4

6

8

1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

C
ul

tiv
at

ed
 a

re
a 

in
 th

ou
sa

nd
 h

a

N
o.

 o
f h

an
d 

tra
ct

or
s/

10
00

 h
a

Years

No. of hand tractors/1000 ha Cultivated area
     

Fig  2. Number of hand tractors per 1000 ha versus cultivated area (a) and yields (b) of rice over times 
 

The increasing number of farm machines, in fact, was not followed by increasing cultivated 

area and yield per hectare over the years. Figure 2a shows that the annual fluctuation of the cultivated 

area (ranging from 100 thousand to 124 thousand ha over the years) did not reflect the increasing 

number of hand tractors on farm in the province.  Similar conditions were also found on yields as 

presented in Figure 2b.  Rice yields (ranging from 3.20 t to 3.36 t ha-1 over the years) did not increase 

when the number of hand tractors/1000 ha increased.  It means that farm power and equipment 

available failed to realize their potential. This may be caused by ineffective use of the machines as a 

result of breakdowns, fragmented land, and poor farm infrastructure (irrigation and farm road) and 

service support systems.  Survey conducted by Paman et al. (2007) reported that the tractor breakdown 

was a major problem found in the province. While the frequency of tractor and implement breakdowns 

was one of causes of low total annual usage of tractors (Kolawale, 1972).  

By assuming that the power available from one person is 0.1 hp, draught animal about 0.5 hp 

and a commonly used engine of 8.5 hp for hand tractor, the availability of farm power in Riau province 

is presented in Table 1.  The total power available per hectare of rice cultivated area increased from 

0.37 hp in 1997 to 0.47 hp in 2006 with an average growth of 4.97% per annum.  Although showing an 

increasing trend over the years, the total power available per annum was only 0.45 hp.ha-1 on average 

during the period.  This power availability is very low and difficult to increase productivity of rice. 

Because the total power availability remains under the minimum power requirement for an efficient 

agriculture.  A world wide study has concluded that for optimum yields, there is a need for a power 

input of at least 0.8 hp.ha-1 (Jain, 1979). 

3.0

3.2

3.4

3.6

3.8

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

Y
ie

ld
s 

(t
/h

a
)

N
o

. o
f 

 h
a

n
d

 tr
a

ct
o

rs
/1

0
0

0
 h

a

Years

No. of hand tractors/1000 ha Yields 



6 
 

The highest growth was occurred on machine power to reach 10.49% per annum and followed 

by human power 8.39% per annum, whereas draught animal power decreased by 3.15% per annum 

during the same period.  Although draught animal has potential power for performing various farm 

operations, its use decreased continuously during last two decades in the Riau province primarily after 

farm machine is extensively introduced to farmers.   In present farming practices, draught animal was 

very rare to be used by farmers with some reasons.  The low efficiency and very slow in doing work 

are main reasons for not using draught animal by farmers. 

Figure 3 indicates that rice farming is heavily dependent on human and machine power which 

constituted 39% and 44% of total power respectively, while the animal power contributed only 17% on 

average during the period of 1997–06. The contribution of different power sources to the total power 

fluctuated every year.  The human power was fluctuated at a range from 31% in 2003-04 to 55% in 

2000.  Draught animal contribution declined since 1998 and reached the lowest share to about 10% per 

annum in 2001, and afterward relatively unchanged up to 2006.  Although being also fluctuated over 

the years, mechanical power increased more rapidly compared to human power during the same period. 

The increased number of major farm machines since 2001 as shown previous figure caused the 

increasing mechanical power contribution. 

Table 1. The farm power sources for rice cultivation in Riau province (hp ha-1), 1997-06. 

Power sources 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

Ave. 
growth 

(%) 

Human * 0.13 0.18 0.14 0.24 0.28 0.17 0.18 0.14 0.16 0.18 8.39 

Animal   0.10 0.10 0.08 0.06 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07 -3.15 

Machine  0.14 0.16 0.11 0.13 0.28 0.24 0.26 0.24 0.23 0.22 10.49 

Total  0.37 0.44 0.33 0.44 0.62 0.47 0.50 0.45 0.46 0.47 4.97 

 Note: * Estimated form 10% of cow and buffalo available in the province.  
 Source: Food Crops Service of Riau Province, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007. 

 



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It was observed that the main cause of the low availability of power for rice cultivation in the 

province is that most farmers still depend on human muscle who can only generate a maximum power 

from about 0.075 kW-h (about 0.1 hp-h) (Singh and Siswasumarto, 1988; Sahay, 2004) to 0.15 kW-h 

(0.2 hp-h) (ASAE, 2006) for an adult human on an average.  Under low available power, mainly from 

human power, yield per hectare will remain at subsistence level (Igbeka, 1984) or land productivity is 

generally low because of the lack of physical available and the limited range of hand tools (Sims and 

Kienzle, 2006). Such power shortage would become a constraint not only to increase rice yields, but 

also to modernize rice farming system in the province.   

Power Requirements in Rice Farming Operations 

Farming operations are seasonal with fluctuating power demand on each stage of the 

operations.  In farming practices, mechanical power application is still limited in Riau province.  Farm 

operations which require relatively little power are still performed completely by human power such as 

seeding, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, and drying.  On the other hand, farm operations which 

require high doses of power input are mostly performed by mechanical power such as land preparation, 

threshing, and milling. In addition, paddy field which has very small size (< 0.2 ha) is worked 

36% 42% 43%
55% 45

35 31% 31% 36% 38%

27%
22%

23%

14%
11%

15% 15%
15% 14% 15%

38%
36%

34%

30%

45%

51% 55%
55% 50% 47%

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

H
or

se
po

w
er

 

Years

Human power Animal Power Machine power

Fig 3. Contribution of different power sources on total power available for rice farming in Riau 
province, 1997-06. 



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completely by human power with traditional tools, such as hoe for tilling, sickle for harvesting, etc.  Of 

the 120 farmers interviewed in the survey areas, nobody used animal as the draught power. 

In order to apply mechanical power, most small farmers resort to custom service organized by 

individual or group/cooperative farmers for their field operations.  Operations, such as land 

preparation, drying, and milling, are available for such services. Through the custom services, most of 

the small farmers are able to handle their farm operations on time without the need to purchase or own 

any machine and related equipment.  The services can be paid in the form of cash or installment 

without any interest borne on the payment delay. The service charge is usually negotiated and decided 

together prior to farm work performed (Paman et al, 2010).  It was found that about 85% of farmers 

hired hand tractor for land preparation, 64% hired thresher for threshing rice, and all farmers brought 

rice grain to either huller or rice milling unit for milling it. 

 

Table 2 presents the use of human and mechanical power per hectare for various operations of 

rice production in Riau province.  The total power requirement for rice operations per hectare in the 

province under current stage of mechanization was 418 kW (561 hp) on average.  Most of the power 

(89.2%) came from mechanical power and the rest are from human power.  The farm operations which 

involved mechanical power include only land preparation, threshing, and milling, while other 

operations are employed entirely by human power. Around 6.4% of human power came from woman 

and the rest 4.3% were from man power.  

According to Table 2, land preparation required more mechanical power which constituted 

about 39% of total power and followed by threshing (28%) and milling (21%) operations.  They 

Table 2. The use of human and mechanical power per hectare for various operations for rice 
production in Riau province 

Type of Operations 
Power requirement (kW) 

Human 
Machine Total Man Woman 

Land preparation 0 0 164.8 164.8 
Seedling  0 1.8 0 1.8 
Planting 2.7 8.2 0 10.9 
Weeding 2.7 5.8 0 8.5 
Fertilizing 1.6 1.6 0 3.2 
Pest control 2.0 0.4 0 2.4 
Harvesting 4.4 5.9 0 10.3 
Threshing 0 0 119.3 119.3 
Transportation 3.1 0 0 3.1 
Cleaning 0 2.0 0 2.0 
Drying 1.7 1.3 0 3.0 
Milling 0 0 89.5 89.5 
Total 18.2 27.0 373.6 418.8 
Percentage 4.3 6.4 89.2 100.0 

** An adult man was assumed to be equivalent to 0.07 kW-h and an adult woman equal to 0.05 kW-h (Singh and 
Siswasumarto, 1988). 



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contributed entirely about 88% of total power, and the remaining 12% were human power.  On the 

other hand, the mechanical power operations contributed only 6.6% of total hours and the rest 93.4% 

were human power.  It means that the rice farm operations by mechanical power needed shorter time 

compared with human power, but required much more power.  The result suggests that farmers should 

be encouraged continuously to use machine power to perform farm operations in order to decrease 

significantly rice operation hours.  The farmers must also be familiar with mechanical power, so the 

productive capability of farmers increases and their rice production processes become more productive 

and efficient. 

Conclusions 

The farm power available per hectare of rice cultivated area was only 0.45 hp on average and 

increased by 4.97% per annum during a period of 1997-06.  The main sources of the power were 

human and machine powers which contributed an average of 39% and 44% of total power respectively, 

and the rest 17% were draught animal power which was not used in farm operation practices anymore. 

During the same period, the stage of rice mechanization process has also been relatively low of about 

4.7 hand tractors/1000 ha of cultivated area and still below the take-off stage in critical point of the 

mechanization process.  Under current stage of rice farm mechanization, the use of farm machines had 

no impact on total cultivated area as well as yield of rice. In farm practices, the farm operations which 

involve mechanical power include only land preparation, threshing, and milling, while other farm 

operations are employed entirely by human power.  Under these conditions, total power required for 

rice farm operations per hectare was 418 kW (561 hp) on average.  Farmers should be encouraged 

continuously to adopt mechanical power technologies in order to carry out farm operations timely and 

short period, and to make rice production process more productive and efficient. 

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