Electricity for world agriculture

The paper discusses the contribution that electricity can make towards the advancement and prosperity of world agriculture, particularly in the newly developing countries. Electricity can most profitably be employed to aid human labour, and for controlling animal or plant environment. Data on world agricultural production, and electricity consumption in countries where the majority of the population is employed in agriculture, are given. Technical development in electro-agricultural equipment for the United Kingdom is traced, and the state of rural electrification there in the 1930s is compared with the present position in some developing countries. Large hydro-electric stations have been built with international funds in essentially agricultural countries where, to make good use of such resources, electricity consumption in rural areas must be expanded rapidly. Light networks, with no provision for augmentation, are unlikely to cater for the needs of the rapid intensification of agriculture forecast. Probable advances, known to the authors, in electro-agricultural equipment for the United Kingdom and oversea territories are forecast, and future researches are suggested. Finally, some suggestions are made for methods to be followed in establishing economic rural-electrification schemes as an essential aid to rural prosperity.