Constraints in the Expansion of Custom Hiring Services of Farm Machinery in Haryana

Author: Sagar Rawal, Ashok Dhillon, Dalip Kumar Bishnoi, Raj Ratan Panday and Parminder Singh

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Abstract

Agriculture in India for a long time has faced a problem of low farm power availability. To increase the farm power availability to 2kw/ha Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India started Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) in the year 2014. The study was conducted in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana during the agricultural year 2020-2021. Primary data from 80 farmers and 10 farm machinery owners were collected regarding the constraints faced by them. The severity of constraints was ascertained by using Garret’s ranking method. Difficulty in the availability of farm machines at peak season was found to be the most common constraint of farmers hiring from private farm machinery providers. Whereas, non-availability of all the machines was found to be the most severe constraint faced by farmers in hiring machinery from Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs). For CHC’s owners, the most severe problem was relatively lower demand for machines like turbo happy seeder, straw choppers etc. In the case of private farm machinery owners, the most severe constraint was the higher initial cost of investment. Hence, the study suggested that there is a need of increasing awareness among farmers regarding CHCs. Also, there is a need for improvement in the culture of using machines such as turbo happy seeder. Further, increasing the number of CHCs can also improve the accessibility to the machinery.

Keywords

Constraints, Custom Hiring Centres, Farm Machinery, Garret Ranking, Mechanization

Conclusion

The study was conducted to identify and understand the severity of constraints faced by farmers in hiring farm machinery and owners in providing machines. It concluded that on as well as less availability of farm machinery at peak hours of farm operations was a common constraint faced by farmers. Whereas, delays in payments, fewer hours of working window, and higher initial investments were some major constraints in the case of both CHCs as well as private farm machinery service providers. Keeping in view of the above findings, the study concluded that there is a need to increase the awareness among farmers regarding custom hiring services so that objectives of crop residue management can be achieved successfully by efficient utilization of machines like turbo happy seeder, straw choppers etc. in the study area.

References

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How to cite this article

Sagar Rawal, Ashok Dhillon, Dalip Kumar Bishnoi, Raj Ratan Panday and Parminder Singh (2023). Constraints in the Expansion of Custom Hiring Services of Farm Machinery in Haryana. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(5): 669-673.