KULGAM: Chief Agriculture Officer Kulgam , Farooq Ahmad Dandroo in presence of District Agriculture Officer Kulgam, Mushtaq Ahmad Malik and Sub-Divisional Agriculture Officer Kulgam, Ghulam Rasool Bhat inaugurated Farm Machinery Bank and Custom Hiring Centre at Tarigam and D.K.Marg of District Kulgam under Sub Mission On Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM).
A large number of gathering of farmers,District Agriculture Officer Kulgam and Agriculture Extension Officers were present during the occasion.
Highlighting the need for establishing Farm Machinery Banks and Custom Hiring Centres, Farooq Ahmad Dandroo,Chief Agriculture Officer Kulgam said that the Agriculture sector is undergoing a gradual shift from dependence on human power to mechanical power because increasing cost for up keeping of animal and growing scarcity of human labour,thus there is a strong need for taking farm mechanizations and establishment of Custom Hiring Centres for the benefit of small and marginal farmers.
He said mechanization is largely consumed in big land holding and is still beyond reach of small and marginal farmers so in order to bring farm machinery available within the reach of small and marginal farmers collective ownership or custom hiring centres needs to be promoted in a big way.
Dandroo said Submission of Agriculture Mechanization (SMAM) is one such initiative towards the objective. These schemes are being formulated to encourage entrepreneurs and agriculture graduates to set up custom hiring centres.
He said CHCs are basically a unit comprising a set of farm machinery,implements and equipment for custom hiring by farmers of adjoining villages.
On the occasion Chief Agriculture Officer Kulgam Farooq Ahmad Dandroo said that these centres have been established by providing rupees eight lacs for Farm Machinery Banks and rupees four lacs for Custom Hiring Centres subsidy out of rupees ten lacs for purchase of machinery by farmers at each CHC.
He further added that during the current year 2020-21,out of target of three number of farm machinery banks and four numbers of CHCs in the District have already been completed.
On the occasion farmers of the areas hailed the efforts of the department by providing custom hiring centres in their vicinity, the farmers informed that they cannot invest in costly farm machineries and with this type of intervention they can hire the machinery on nominal charges and carry out agriculture operations in their field smoothly.

KR Desk