Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, Punjab
The study has examined the role of Cooperative Agro-Service Centres (CASCs) in institutionalization of custom hiring services in Punjab based on the primary data collected from 100 such CASCs spread over the state. The study has established the increasing level of participation of CASCs through their acquisition of sophisticated and costly farm machinery for custom hiring purposes. The involvement of the sample CASCs in providing farm services is increasing over time, in terms of number of beneficiaries and the operated area that got benefitted by the use of custom hired machinery. The financial health of the sample CASCs has been improving steadily with financial support extended to such centres in terms of subsidy on one hand and increasing reach on the other hand translating into increased earnings by way of custom hiring. The study has suggested replication of this model in other states of the country to reduce production cost and human drudgery.
Co-operatives, custom hiring, institutional arrangement, mechanization, Punjab
