International Journal of Agricultural

Science and Research (IJASR)

ISSN(P): 2250-0057; ISSN(E): 2321-0087
Vol. 6, Issue 1, Feb 2016, 217-220
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd

CONSTRAINTS OF FARMERS IN UTILIZING CUSTOM HIRING SERVICE

(CHS) OF TRACTOR BASED FARM MACHINERIES - AN ANALYSIS
PARASHUNATH1, G. M. HIREMATH2 & PRASHANTH, J3
Department of Agricultural Economics, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India
ABSTRACT
The custom hiring gained importance in agriculture mainly due to rise in the cropping intensity and drop in
average landholdings. In India, the proportion of marginal and small size landholding increased from 69.6 per cent in
1970-71 to 85 per cent in 2010-11. Custom hiring system is better for the small farmers for timely and efficient farm
operations and also to increase net farm income and productivity of the crops. The custom hiring farmers reported the
problems of costly, inadequate and lack of timely availability of custom hiring services. The government developed the
Custom Hiring Service Centres (CHSCs) established in Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) as custom
hiring centres for such services hiring services and take steps like fixing the custom hiring rates, adequate availability
and quality services, easy procedure to get services and creating more awareness about farm machineries especially

established in PACS and private agencies. Therefore, there is need to overcoming constraints of public CHSCs and
private custom hiring agencies for the benefit of small and marginal farmers.
KEYWORDS : Land Holdings, CHSC, PACS, Farm Machineries, Small and Marginal Farmers

Received: Jan 13, 2016; Accepted: Jan 23, 2016; Published: Jan 28, 2016; Paper Id.: IJASRFEB201631

Original Article

through public custom hiring services. Hence the present study is an attempt to assess the constraints of public CHSCs

INTRODUCTION
One of the major constraints of increasing agricultural production and productivity is the inadequacy of
farm power and machinery with the farmers. Even farmers with small and marginal holdings utilize selected
improved farm equipment through custom hiring service. Each farmer cant purchase the machinery set-up of his
requirement. Therefore, custom-hiring facility can be of significance to the farmers. Establishment of such
facilities has potential for adoption of farm mechanization. There are many problems in utilizing the custom
hiring service from private and public agencies. In India more than 85 per cent of the farmers are small and
marginal and they do not have the capacity to purchase the high cost machineries and CHS of farm machineries
helpful to these farmers to increase the production, productivity and income. Based on the empirical results of the
study, the farmers of the study area would be able to make decisions regarding farm operations that can be
mechanized in order to achieve better profits, save time and carryout the operations efficiently. The services of
farm machineries are being provided to the farmers on custom hire basis. In order to examine the status of the
farm mechanization and viability PACS in the Tungabhadra Project (TBP) area of Karnataka state. In this
backdrop, the present study would throw light on all these aspects and come out with meaningful policies related
to CHS and to overcome the constraints, if any, in utilizing the CHS. Single farm ownership and use of tractors
and machinery on these small and marginal farms is not economically viable. But through custom hiring of
agricultural machinery even small farmers have been able to get the benefit of agricultural mechanization.
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Parashunath, G. M. Hiremath & Prashanth, J

Timeliness of operations especially sowing and intercultural operations has significance for good crop stand and sustained
productivity of crops.
The majority of the respondents faced the problems like inadequate subsidy (95 %) to purchase farm implement,
followed by high cost of equipment (93 %) including repair and maintenance charges, lack of skilled labours for handling
of combine harvester and thresher (87.50 %), inadequate guidance and co-operation from dealer (86.67 %) and poor
economic condition (85.83 %) in adopting farm machineries (Nagaraj et al. 2013). Farmers faced many problems in
utilizing CHSs provided by private and public agencies in the TBP command area. Among the different constraints, lack of
timely availability of tractor services and inadequate availability of tractor services ranked first in CHS of private (71.01)
and public (69.82) respectively. Second major constraint was high cost of CHS (69.90) followed by inadequate availability
of tractor services (68.98) faced by sample farmers in utilizing private CHS. With respect to public CHS, procedure of
getting tractor service (67.56) was the second major constraint followed by lack of awareness about availability of CHS in
the public sector (66.83). Quality of service was lacking in CHS, discriminating charges and overlapping of farm
operations were the other constraints faced by sample farmers in utilizing CHS in the TBP command area. There is a need
to strengthen the CHSCs in this area by increasing the number of farm machinery. It will solve the problem of timely nonavailability of machinery services to the farmers, particularly during the peak season, especially to the small and marginal
farmers. The expansion of the CHSCs will bring more competition in the custom hiring services in and will bring down the
price differentials between CHSCs and private owners with regard to the machinery use for various farm operations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was conducted in Tungabhadra Project (TBP) command area of Karnataka. For evaluating the
constraints of custom hiring service by private and public agencies. Primary data were collected from the sample farmers
pertained to the agricultural year 2013-14. The multistage sampling procedure was adopted for selection of sample farmers
from TBP area. In the first stage, top three taluks of TBP area were selected based on the highest number of tractors. In the
second stage, two villages were selected randomly from each selected taluk having public CHSC. In the third stage, 30
farmers were selected from each village with equal representation of large, medium and small and marginal farmers. In all,
60 large, 60 medium and 60 small & marginal farmers were selected. Thus, the total sample size comprised of 180 farmers
for the study and also fulfilling the specific objective of the study, the data were analyzed by using Garrett ranking
technique.
Garrett Ranking Technique
To capture comprehensively the constraints in utilizing private and public CHS, Garrett ranking technique was
used. Garretts ranking technique gives the change of orders of constraints into numerical scores. The major advantage of
this technique as compared to simple frequency distribution is that here constraints are arranged based on their importance
from the point of view of respondents. Depending upon the level of reasons influencing preferring and constraints of CHS
for different respondents. First, second and third ranks were assigned respectively, if the opinion of respondents were
frequently, occasionally and rarely. Accordingly these ranks were converted into scores by referring to Garretts table.
Garretts formula for converting ranks into per cent was given by
Per cent position =100*(Rij-0.50)/ Nj
Where,
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

NAAS Rating: 3.53

Constraints of Farmers in Utilizing Custom Hiring Service (CHS)

of Tractor Based Farm Machineries - An Analysis

219

Rij = Rank given for ith factor jth respondent.

Nj = Number of items factor in jth respondent.
The per cent position of each rank was converted to scores by referring to tables given by Garret and
Woodworth (1969). Then for each factor, the scores of individual respondents were summed up and divided by the total
number of respondents from whom scores were gathered. The mean scores for all the factors were ranked.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The farmers faced many problems in the command areas of TBP in utilizing CHS provided by private and public
agencies. Among the different constraints, lack of timely availability of tractor services and inadequate availability of
tractor services were ranked first in CHS of private (mean score 71.01) and public (mean score 69.82) respectively. Second
major constraint was higher cost of CHS (mean score 69.90) followed by inadequate availability of tractor services (mean
score 68.98) faced by sample farmers in utilizing private CHS. The similar findings were made by Thulasamma, L. (2000)
42.92 per cent and 55 per cent of the farmers faced the problems of non-availability of the machinery and high cost of
hiring respectively. With respect to public CHS procedure of getting tractor service (mean score 67.56) was the second
major constraint followed by lack of awareness about availability of CHS in the public sector (mean score 66.83). Quality
of service was lacking in CHS, discriminating charges, and overlapping of farm operations were the other constraints faced
by sample farmers in utilizing CHS in the TBP command area. Similar findings of constraints were reported by Singh et al.
(2013) where high cost of hiring a tractor appeared to be the major constraint outlined by 95 per cent of the custom hiring
farmers. Timely and non-availability of adequate tractor services were reported another major constraint by 72.50 per cent
and 55 per cent of the respondents respectively. They felt that sometimes the sowing of their crop get delayed due to lack
of timely and adequate availability of tractor services. About 98 per cent of the respondents felt that there is a need to
expand and develop the cooperative CHS centres in Punjab as these can contribute to solve the problem of timely
availability of machinery to farmers, 95 per cent farmers said that custom hiring rates should be reduced and 38 per cent of
the respondents suggested that the Government should take steps like fixing custom hiring rates for farm machinery,
making fuel available at subsidised rates. About half of the respondents (45%) felt the need for creating more awareness
about custom hiring of machinery which will help to reduce the fixed costs of farm operations and lessen the burden of
heavy capital investments. Therefore, it is necessary to solve these constraints faced by the farmers.
During the peak season, machine hirers increased the costs with the increased demand. This resulted in high cost
of machinery to hire. Likewise during the peak season, due to limited labour availability, farmers would go for
mechanization of particular operation, which facilitated transition from manual operation to mechanization. But due to
limited number of machines, there may be more demand for machinery. Another important problem associated with the
above situation is delay in carrying out of the operations due to insufficient number of machines available. When the
demand is high and limited number of machinery then in such situation, those farmers who can pay more can carry out the
operation soon and those who cannot afford get delayed.

CONCLUSIONS
The custom hiring farmers reported the problems that were associated with the utilization of private CHS were
lack of timely, inadequate availability and high cost of tractor services. Tedious procedure in getting tractor service and
lack of awareness about availability of machineries on CHS were the problem of public CHSCs. Therefore, the
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Parashunath, G. M. Hiremath & Prashanth, J

government should support the efficient delivery of CHS for costly machinery especially through PACS and fixing custom
hiring rates for farm machinery. This would particularly be beneficial to the small farmers to cut down their cost of
production, enhance productivity and increase their net margins. High cost of hiring a tractor appeared to be the major
constraint and felt that sometimes the sowing of their crop get delayed due to lack of timely and adequate availability of
tractor services. There is a need to expand and develop the more public CHSCs as these can contribute to solve the
problem of timely availability of machinery to farmers also maintain the same hiring rates in all seasons and also there is
need for creating more awareness about custom hiring of machineries through public agencies. Under Indian condition,
majority of farmers are small and marginal and hence CHS would act as a panacea for solving the farm mechanization
problems.
REFERENCES
1.

Garret, H. E. and Woodworth, R.S., 1969, Statistics in psychology and education.Vakilis Feffer and Simons Pvt. Ltd. Bombay.
329.

2.

Nagaraj, P. S., Dhananjaya, S., Madhushree, A. and Vidyadhara, B., 2013, A study on knowledge and adoption of farm
mechanization by paddy grower in Tungabhadra Project Area, Karnataka. Intl. J. Agric. Food Sci. Technol., 4, 385-390.

3.

Singh, S., Kingra, H. S. and Sangeet, 2013, Custom hiring services of farm machinery in Punjab: Impact and policies, Ind.
Res. J. Ext. Edu., 13, 45-50.

4.

Thulasamma, L. (2000). Economics of farm mechanization in coastal AP (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Acharya NG Ranga
Agric. Univ. Hyderabad, India.

APPENDICES
Table 1: Constraint in Utilizing CHS by Sample Farmers
Sl.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Particulars
High cost of custom hiring services
during peak season
Lack of timely availability of
tractor services
Inadequate availability of tractor
services
Procedure of getting tractor service
is tedious
Quality of service is lacking in
CHS
Discriminating charges
Overlapping of farm operations
Lack of awareness about
availability of CHS in public sector

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

Private CHS
Mean
Total Score
Score

Rank

Total
Score

Public CHS
Mean
Score

Rank

9436.50

69.90

II

8240.40

61.04

VIII

9586.35

71.01

9022.05

66.02

IV

9312.30

68.98

III

9425.70

69.82

8816.85

65.31

VIII

9120.60

67.56

II

9228.60

68.36

IV

8592.75

63.65

8857.35
9170.55

65.61
67.93

VII
V

8394.30
8365.95

62.18
61.97

VI
VII

8947.80

66.28

VI

8912.70

66.83

III

NAAS Rating: 3.53