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1. Definition
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Name
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MECHANISATION
INDEX
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Brief
definition
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Motor
vehicles, machinery and plant used by the agricultural
holding expressed in terms of horsepower (Hp) per
hectare of the Utilised Agricultural Area
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Unit of measure
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HP/Ha
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2.
Position within the logical framework DPSIR
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Type
of Indicator
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Driving
Force
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3.
Target and political pertinence
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Objective
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The
indicator gives a measure of how agricultural activities
contribute to physical soil degradation.
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Importance
with respect to desertification
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The
major physical impacts of agricultural practices on
Mediterranean soils are compaction and erosion. Soil
compaction can be caused by the repetitive and cumulative
effect of heavy machinery. The resulting decrease
of soil porosity reduces root penetration and access
to the soil nutrients and alters biological activity
of the soil on the farm scale. On the watershed scale,
soil compaction increases surface runoff since less
rainwater is able to percolate. This increases the
risk of water erosion, loss of topsoil and nutrients,
and non-point source pollution of water resources
(EEA, 1995).
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International
Conventions and agreements
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The
UNCCD considers the conservation of the soil as a
part of its implementation.
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Secondary objectives
of the indicator
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The indicator can provide
a measure of energy intensity in agriculture
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4.
Methodological description and basic definitions
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Definitions
and basic concepts
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Motor
vehicles, machinery and plant used by the agricultural
holding being the property of the holding, another
agricultural holding, a co-operative associations,
two or more agricultural holdings or belonging to
a machinery group, an agricultural service supply
agency, rated in horsepower (HP). Following the Eurostat
Glossary, this category includes:
Four-wheeled
tractors, track-laying tractors, tool carriers: All tractors with at
least two axles used by the agricultural holding and
all other motor vehicles used as agricultural tractors.
This heading includes special vehicles such as "Jeeps",
"Unimogs", etc. used as agricultural tractors.
However, motor vehicles used in the 12 months under
review exclusively for forestry, fishing, construction
of ditches and roads and other excavation work are
excluded.
Cultivators,
hoeing machines, rotary hoes, motor mowers: Motor vehicles used
in agriculture, horticulture and viticulture with
one axle or similar vehicles without axle. Machines
used solely for parks and lawns are excluded.
Combine
harvesters: Machinery
self-propelled, tractor-drawn or tractor-mounted,
for the harvesting and threshing of cereals (including
rice and grain-maize), pulses and oil seeds, seeds
of legumes and grasses, etc. Specialised machines
for the harvesting of peas are not included.
Other
fully mechanized harvesters: Machinery, other than combine harvesters, self-propelled,
tractor-drawn or tractor-mounted, for the continuous
harvesting of sugarbeet, potatoes or forage crops.
Harvesting of a crop may be carried out in one or
more operations (e.g. when several machines having
different functions are used in a continuous sequence,
in such a case the various machines are counted as
a single machine).
Utilised
Agricultural Area (UAA) is the sum of Arable Land,
kitchen gardens, permanent pasture and meadow, permanent
crops (Eurostat).
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Benchmarks
Indication of the values/ranges of value
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I°
range: < Local Mean -St. Dev.
II° range: >Local Mean - St. Dev. < Local Mean
III° range: > Local Mean < Local Mean + St.
Dev.
IV° range: > Local Mean + St. Dev
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Methods
of measurement
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Each
tractor, cultivator, and piece of machinery (see "Definitions
and basic concepts) has to be expressed in terms of
HP. The amount of Hp has to be divided by the ha of
UAA.
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Limits
of the indicator
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The
indicator does not reveal anything about the intensity
of use of machinery.
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Linkages with other
indicators
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Tillage depth; Tillage operations; Tillage direction; Farm
size
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5.
Evaluation of data needs and availability
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Data
required to calculate the indicator
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Hp
of each tractors, cultivators, and other machinery
used by the farm; UUA
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Data
sources
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Agricultural
Census; Agricultural Machinery Register
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Availability of data
from national and international sources
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Eurostat, Agricultural
Machinery Register
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6.
Institutions that have participated in developing the indicator
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Main
institutions responsible
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University
of Basilicata. Italy
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Other contributing organizations
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Universities of Athens,
Lisbon, Murcia
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7.
Additional information
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Bibliography
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EEA,
1995. In: Stanners, D., Boureau, P. (Eds), Europe's
Environment: The Dobris Assessment. Office for Official
Publications of the European Communities, Luxemburg
Zalidis,
G., Stamatiadis, S., Takavakoglou, V., Eskridge, K.,
Misopolinos N. (2002): Impacts of agricultural practices
on soil and water quality in the Mediterranean region
and proposed assessment methodology, Agriculture,
Ecosystems and Environment n. 88, Elsevier Science,
pagg 137-146
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Other
references
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http://forum.europa.eu.int/irc/dsis/coded/info/data/coded/en/Theme1.htm
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Contacts Name and address
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University of Basilicata
Prof Giovanni Quaranta
email: quaranta@unibas.it
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