Constraints perceived by farmers in adopting custom hiring services in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand

The present study was conducted in Udham Singh Nagar, a Tarai region of Uttarakhand to assess the constraints confronted by regional farmers in implementing straw management machineries in CHCs (Custom Hiring Centres) and related perception regarding services delivered by CHCs. Empirical data was solicited from farmers personally through an interview schedule to assess the constraints and service status of CHCs. The study concluded that legion of farmers were ‘strongly serious’ witless number of government CHC are active and operational compared to private CHCs (C12) with high weighted mean size (WMS) 2.34, followed by small and fragmented land holdings restricts movement of the farm machines (2.26) and lack of proper knowledge about CHCs (2.19). Majority of farmers were ‘not so serious’ with obsolescence and old condition of existing machineries with lowest WMS (1.29) followed by less weightage to advance paddy residue management machineries (1.54). The results revealed that the value of the correlation coefficient (r) of the independent variables viz. age, annual income and extent of utilization of CHS were positive and significantly associated with perception of farmers regarding CHS. The findings prioritize establishment of government CHCs and dire need increasing straw management machines to meet expanding demand during peak seasons. In addition, a well-structured and sagacious national level CHCs planning can definitely and sound extension policies can enhance the farmers’ productivity, income and sustainable agricultural mechanization.