An Empirical Analysis of Farmer’s Perspectives on Custom Hiring Service Centres in Tumakuru District of Karnataka, India

Abstract

The perception of farmers regarding the usefulness of Custom Hiring Service Centre’s refers to their opinions and attitudes toward these facilities, particularly in terms of accessing machinery, cost-effectiveness, productivity benefits, technology adoption, and labor reduction. The study conducted in Tumakuru district of Karnataka during 2020-21 was an "ex post facto" research focusing on farmers' perceptions of the usefulness of hiring centers. Eight taluks were chosen, where Custom Hiring Service Centre’s were operated effectively. The results pertaining to the perception towards objectives of Custom hiring centers showed that more than two-fifths of respondents (45.38 %) falling under the medium category with Mean = 32.65 and SD = 3.42, perception towards availability of services in also saw positive outcomes through the services of Custom Hiring Service Centre’s. With 42.13 per cent of respondents in the high category and perception towards benefits of CHSC with 46.15 per cent of respondents were categorized as low. The Custom Hiring Service Centre’s had a notable impact on overall perception of farmers i.e., more than one third (36.15 %) of the respondents falls under high perception level. The statement farmers pay only for the number of acres or the number of hours used has component loading of 0.83 followed by overcome the problem of labour in agricultural operation with 0.76 component loading. Through the provision of affordable access to a diverse range of farm machinery and equipment, Custom Hiring Service Centre’s have significantly enhanced operational efficiency, minimized input losses, and promoted sustainable farming practices.