Tunisia - Agricultural machinery, tractors

The value for Agricultural machinery, tractors in Tunisia was 40,438 as of 2008. As the graph below shows, over the past 47 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 40,647 in 2007 and a minimum value of 10,300 in 1961.

Definition: Agricultural machinery refers to the number of wheel and crawler tractors (excluding garden tractors) in use in agriculture at the end of the calendar year specified or during the first quarter of the following year.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.

See also:

Year Value
1961 10,300
1962 10,654
1963 11,594
1964 12,429
1965 14,000
1966 16,000
1967 18,131
1968 19,000
1969 20,000
1970 21,000
1971 22,000
1972 23,500
1973 23,500
1974 23,800
1975 24,200
1976 24,500
1977 24,800
1978 25,200
1979 25,500
1980 25,800
1981 26,200
1982 26,600
1983 26,000
1984 26,000
1985 26,100
1986 26,100
1987 26,000
1988 26,000
1989 25,131
1990 23,982
1991 25,554
1992 27,474
1993 28,450
1994 31,450
1995 33,540
1996 33,400
1997 33,250
1998 33,100
1999 32,900
2000 32,700
2001 32,550
2002 32,293
2003 33,348
2004 34,982
2005 37,171
2006 38,884
2007 40,647
2008 40,438

Development Relevance: Agricultural land covers more than one-third of the world's land area. In many industrialized countries, agricultural land is subject to zoning regulations. In the context of zoning, agricultural land (or more properly agriculturally zoned land) refers to plots that may be used for agricultural activities, regardless of the physical type or quality of land. A substantial contribution to agriculture in the last century has been the escalation from manual and stock-animal farm work to gas-powered farm equipment. Globally, steel plows, mowers, mechanical reapers, seed drills, and threshers contributed to the development of mechanized agriculture, tractors enabled the farmer to sow and harvest large agricultural lands with less manpower. In modern times, powered machinery such as tractors, has replaced many jobs formerly carried out by men or animals such as oxen, horses and mules. FAO estimates that most farmers in developing countries experience a greater annual expenditure on farm power inputs than on fertilizer, seeds or agrochemicals. Agriculture is still a major sector in many economies, and agricultural activities provide developing countries with food and revenue. But agricultural activities also can degrade natural resources as poor farming practices cause soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. There is no single correct mix of inputs to the agricultural land, as it is dependent on local climate, land quality, and economic development; appropriate levels and application rates vary by country and over time and depend on the type of crops, the climate and soils, and the production process used.

Limitations and Exceptions: The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through annual questionnaires. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. The data collected from official national sources through the questionnaire are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: A tractor provides the power and traction to mechanize agricultural tasks, especially tillage. Agricultural implements may be towed behind or mounted on the tractor, and the tractor may also provide a source of power if the implement is mechanized. The most common use of the term "tractor" is for the vehicles used on farms. The farm tractor is used for pulling or pushing agricultural machinery or trailers, for plowing, tilling, disking, harrowing, planting, and similar tasks. Planting, tending and harvesting a crop requires both a significant amount of power and a suitable range of tools and equipment. Mechanization of farming has allowed an increase to the area that can be planted and has contributed towards increased yields, mainly due to the precision with which the farming tasks can be accomplished.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Agricultural production