Deere & Company, a world leader in the field of agricultural equipment, will work with the Gujarat government on an innovative public-private partnership to benefit marginalised tribal farmers over the next five years.
The company also plans to build a new tractor facility in India in addition to its Pune factory.
According to a company press release, the programme could benefit approximately 50,000 farm families, who will learn skills to help mechanise their farms, which could increase crop yields.
"The world is challenged to increase food production significantly in the next few decades," Samuel R Allen, the Chairman and CEO of Deere & Company, was quoted as saying in a press release.
"All around the world, John Deere is working to help customers be more productive. Deere supports developmental projects such as this one in India to help farmers increase their chance for prosperity and improve their quality of life," he said.
John Deere, the Moline-based company in Illinois, will open small agricultural implement resource centres across Gujarat, making more than 500 tractors available for use by local farmers and providing the farmers access to a set of 13 different implements for various operations.
Each centre will include a trained operator and maintenance staff. Farmer groups that use the equipment for crop cultivation will pay only for operating and maintenance costs and not for the actual tractor or implements.
According to Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the new public-private partnership is the first of its kind in the agriculture sector in India.
"This is a shining example of a programme that will help empower and provide economic wealth to our marginalised farmers and tribal brethren," he said at the inaugural ceremony, organised jointly by the Gujarat Tribal Development Department and John Deere.
The ceremony was attended by beneficiary tribal farmers, representatives of NGOs, senior government officials and John Deere staff.
The Gujarat government not only aims to train farmers on the productive use of tractors and farm implements, but also to help develop additional skills in soil testing and micro-irrigation. John Deere will help ensure technical skill development and enhance future employment opportunities in Gujarat by training approximately 1,000 local individuals as tractor operators and another 500 as tractor mechanics.
"We have seen many policy initiatives in recent years in Gujarat to improve agriculture, including significant efforts to facilitate farm mechanisation in the state," said Allen.
"The initiatives have addressed important topics such as market access, contract farming, agriculture extension services, water conservation, micro irrigation and the availability of quality electricity," he said.