Introduction

Farm machines and equipment play a pivotal role in crop production, and its handling, transportation, processing and preservation. Recognizing this, the Govt. of India had undertaken import of farm equipment in the First Five Year Plan period. Simultaneously,for promoting the use of machines, the Government established the "Agricultural Machinery Utilization Training Centre" in 1955 at Budni (Madhya Pradesh). Prior to this, use of farm machines in the country, was quite scant. The objective of establishing the Budni Centre was to train the prospective farmers on proper use, maintenance and up-keep of farm machines. Subsequently, considering the imperativeness of the indigenous manufacture of farm machines/equipment, in 1959, a testing wing was added to the Centre; primarily with a view to ascertain the suitability of agricultural machines/equipment to the agro-climatic conditions of the country. The Centre was renamed `Tractor Training and Testing Station’. In the year 1983, the Tractor Training and Testing Station was upgraded and renamed `Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute'.Viewing the importance of the testing of farm machines and training on various aspects of farm machinery, and to cope-up with the increased demand of trained manpower in the field of agricultural mechanization, three more Institutes were set up at Hissar (Haryana), Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh) and Biswanath Chariali (Assam) in the year 1963, 1983 and 1990 respectively.

Over a period of 5 decades, with the growth of indigenous production of tractors and farm equipment, the Institute has developed the necessary expertise and infrastructure and has attained International Standards in the field of farm machinery training and testing and is well recognized amongst leading testing organizations in the world. The Institute has accredition of Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) ,Paris which has helped in export promotion of Indian Tractors.