The Impact Assessment of Mechanized Transplanting of Sugarcane Settlings Using Economic Surplus Approach

A tractor-operated two-row semi-automatic sugarcane single bud-chip settling transplanter was assessed for its economic impact. This equipment decreases time requirement and labour engagement compared to manual transplanting, thereby reducing the cost of operation for transplanting. The equipment was licensed to three private manufacturers for production and supply to end-users. Time series data of 58 units of this implement supplied to the states of Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in India as well as Republic of the Philippines from 2015 to 2021 were collected for this study. Using an economic surplus model, the downwards shift of the supply curve, which enables the producers to achieve higher output at a lower cost of production due to technological intervention at the market equilibrium point, was measured. As a result, the volume of trade changes, generating a surplus for both the producers and consumers. The economic impact in terms of the change in total surplus and net present worth due to adoption of sugarcane settling transplanter developed at a cost of about ₹ 1.88 million in current price was estimated by adopting economic surplus approach. The aggregate change in total surplus due to adoption of sugarcane settling transplanter was about ₹ 6.66 billion over seven years (2015–2021), with 73.39% accrued to producers and the remaining 26.61% gained by the consumers. In real terms, the net present worth at a 6% discount rate was estimated as ₹ 3.21 billion in 2011–2012 prices.