The Role of Agricultural Mechanization in the Modernization of Asian Agriculture: Taiwan's Experience

The demand for mechanization and automation in the agricultural field is a response to the demand for high quality products and sophisticated production techniques in countries with high labor costs. Taiwan started its ten-year mechanization program in 1960 through the introduction of power tillers. Additional measures such as the introduction of field and post-harvest rice drying mechanization, agricultural automation, and precision agriculture were promoted during the past thirty years. Over this period, Taiwan has become a highly mechanized country in rice production. The local small and medium-sized farm machinery industrial sector is characterized by low volume sales of a great variety of farm machinery. Although government policies help to fulfill domestic demand for farm machinery, the local agricultural machinery industry is at a disadvantage as it faces global competition in the new millennium.