An empirical analysis of custom hire centres in Karnataka Basavaraj Gali1,*, Bhattarai Madhusudan2, Swamy H.M.3, Lagesh M.A.4 1Deputy Director, Centre of Excellence for Farmer Producer Organizations, University of Horticultural SciencesCampus, Bengaluru-560065 (Karnataka) 2National Project Manager, Facilitating the Pursuit of SDGs in Nepal (FPSN), National Planning Commission, Nepal and UNDP, Singha Darbar 3Senior Research Fellow, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar-125004 (Haryana) 4Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, IBS Hyderabad (A Constituent of ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education), Hyderabad-501203 (Telangana) *Corresponding author's email: basavarajg73@gmail.com
Online published on 4 February, 2023. Abstract Krishi Yantra Dhare, a scheme, was launched for access to farm mechanization, especially for small and marginal farmers, through custom hire centres (CHCs) in Karnataka in 2014. Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Programme, a charitable trust, has established the highest number (164 CHC) across 25 districts in Karnataka. One hundred ninety-five respondents across 14 districts were selected for the study to understand the functioning of CHC's and utilization of farm equipment .by farmers The findings indicated that medium, small and large holders utilized renting services at 839.95, 779.05 and 241.65 hours, respectively. Rotavator at 262 hours was the most demanded equipment with rental income of  1, 40, 239.As the objective of CHCs establishment was to offer access to farm machinery to small and marginal holders, implementation of the scheme has been in the right direction. Top Keywords Agricultural machinery, Custom hire centres, KrishiYantra Dhare, Rental income, Renting services. Top |