Disadvantages of mechanized food production in developing countries

In most developing countries where the majority of the population is in the agricultural sector, excessive food production may be nearly as economically disruptive as food shortages, especially when such expensive inputs as fertilizers, fuel and equipment are part of production costs to be repaid from output sales. Mechanization for increased production, therefore, may not always be a desirable or appropriate policy target. In many developing countries, a lack of on-farm facilities for post-harvesting and handling of crops, coupled with limited economic channels of crop disposal, may form a critical bottleneck that has the effect of neutralizing all benefits due from mechanized tillage and/or crop protection investments.