Sonalika sets a new direction to the farm mechanization in Africa

Jalandhar, April 30, 2015: Sonalika has set a new direction to the farm mechanization in Africa, a continent that is not only the world’s second largest but also constitutes more than 20% of the total Earth’s land area. 

Owing to its huge land mass, Africa has 60% of unused arable land which can be better utilised by getting rid of obsolete farming practices and instilling farm mechanization techniques to generate higher yield.  Although it has nine times more untapped arable land as compared to India, its tractor population ratio is highly skewed because of its reliance on traditional agricultural methods. Statistically, the agricultural land to tractor ratio for India is 3:1, however for Africa it is highly distorted at 540:1. 

Speaking about the gravity of the situation, Deepak Mittal, MD, Sonalika group said,Sonalika is contributing towards the food security of the World through its high-technological tractors and other farm implements by increasing the farm output. After making its presence felt in over 80 countries, Sonalika has a keen focus on Africa now. Africa is predicted to be the next food bowl for the world. Over the past decade, African leaders have demonstrated a strong commitment to prioritizing agricultural development, food security and nutrition. Inspired by efforts of African leaders, President Obama launched a global hunger and food security initiative “Feed the Future” as one of his first foreign policy acts, mobilizing the global community to focus on these issues. For which U.S.A partnered with 12 African countries to promote growth in agriculture.

Leveraging on a heritage experience in agricultural sector and having vastly served India, the home to 1/3rd of the total tractor market, Sonalika has rightly used these expertise to become one of the top agricultural solution providers in the continent today and has strong footholds in more than 25 countries across Africa. Presently, Sonalika is the market leader in Algeria and has gained accolades and customer faith at a fast pace since its inception almost a decade ago. The company has set up assembly lines in Algeria and Cameroon with further expansion plans and assembly lines project to come up in East of Africa

He said, “The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) projects that food and feed production will need to increase by 70 percent by 2050 to meet the world’s food needs. But agriculture will have to face challenges like depleting land resources, shift of manpower from agriculture to non-agriculture employment and changing climatic patterns. The only solution to ensure food security in the future to increase the output of the farm land. This is possible only with effective mechanization.