UP-SCALING FARM MACHINERY CUSTOM HIRING CENTRES IN INDIA: A POLICY PAPER

Abstract

Earlier efforts under various national programmes in the area of farm mechanization have registered around 15 - 20% higher productivity in various crops at field level apart from 30% savings in the cost of cultivation. This is because of timeliness of selective agricultural operations in addition to the precision use of inputs. However, it is pertinent to note that there is a wide gap in technology absorption capacity across various farm categories and farming systems. Inspite of government departments support under various schemes, the small and marginal farm holders are unable to take the advantage, once they are withdrawn. Farmers owning less than 2 ha of land are not finding viability of owning costly farm implements and machinery as they are capital intensive. Periodic maintenance of the costly equipment followed by need based repairs are posing a big problem to the unskilled farming community because of which the individual ownership is found to be non-viable.