aDepartment of Agricultual Economics, College of Agriculture, UAS, Raichur-584104, Karnataka
bDepartment of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, B Gudi-585287, Karnataka
cDepartment of FMPE, CAE, UAS, Raichur-584104, Karnataka
Online published on 5 December, 2018.
Mechanization of farm activities is important to increase production and productivity of crops. Since small and marginal farmers cannot afford to purchase costly machinery and equipments, Custom Hiring Service Centers (CHSCs) can help them. The present study attempts to assess the benefits of CHSCs established in North-Eastern Karnataka (NEK) region. The data were collected from selected CHSCs as well as users and non-users of CHSCs. Average number of villages covered by each CHSC was 22 with a wide range of 5 to 50 villages. The distribution of users and non-users represented all the sections of population. Majority of farmers used machineries like rotovator (59.57%), cultivator (57.44%), M B Plough (42.55%) which are the basic implements required for most of the crops. There is also good demand for combine harvester due to scarcity of labour. The positive point of CHSCs was that almost all machineries/equipment were used without leaving them idle. The CHSC hiring charges were lower than those charges by private providers. Farmers can save hiring charges to the extent of 34.62% in case of tractor with cage-wheel and 10% in case of combine harvester. The users also realized higher yield and higher net returns.
