While much remains to be done on small farms in the poorest regions, sufficient progress has been made to accelerate food production in line with population growth (contrary to the Malthusian prediction). In this theme, farm machinery is considered with primary emphasis on engine and motor driven machines and implements and a lesser emphasis on human or animal powered equipment.
For example, in an extensively farmed area of Africa where hoe cultivation is used yields may be low, while in an intensively farmed tractorized region of India yields may be much higher. The yield differences may be caused in part by differences in other inputs, such as fertilizers or seeds. They could also be caused by better tillage in India-but this does not mean that good tillage is achieved only by tractors and cannot be achieved by hand. Examples from Java show that cultivation by hand can be as thorough as by ox or tractor.

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While much remains to be done on small farms in the poorest regions, sufficient progress has been made to accelerate food production in line with population growth (contrary to the Malthusian prediction). In this theme, farm machinery is considered with primary emphasis on engine and motor driven machines and implements and a lesser emphasis on human or animal powered equipment.
For example, in an extensively farmed area of Africa where hoe cultivation is used yields may be low, while in an intensively farmed tractorized region of India yields may be much higher. The yield differences may be caused in part by differences in other inputs, such as fertilizers or seeds. They could also be caused by better tillage in India-but this does not mean that good tillage is achieved only by tractors and cannot be achieved by hand. Examples from Java show that cultivation by hand can be as thorough as by ox or tractor.

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