The mechanization of farming in developing countries has been very uneven. In certain parts of Africa, in Java, and in many hilly regions, farmers still till their fields with hand tools even though animal tillage has been common in other parts of the world for thousands of years. While draft animals have completely disappeared in North America, Europe, and Japan, they have been widely accepted in Senegal only in the past few decades.
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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The mechanization of farming in developing countries has been very uneven. In certain parts of Africa, in Java, and in many hilly regions, farmers still till their fields with hand tools even though animal tillage has been common in other parts of the world for thousands of years. While draft animals have completely disappeared in North America, Europe, and Japan, they have been widely accepted in Senegal only in the past few decades.
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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