The government has sanctioned six more custom hire centres from where farmers can hire farm equipment in Dakshina Kannada.
This is in addition to five such centres already functioning in the district, according to H. Kempe Gowda, Joint Director, Agriculture, Dakshina Kannada. VST Tillers Tractors Ltd. would manage the six new centres. They have been temporarily proposed at Moodbidri and Surathkal; Sullia; Kadaba; Kokkada and Vitla. But a committee of Dakshina Kannada would take a final call on opening these centres at the places proposed, he said. They would be opened during this kharif season, he said.
Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, an NGO, manages the existing five centres. They are at Panja in Sullia taluk; Uppinangady in Puttur taluk; Panemangaluru in Bantwal taluk; Gurupura in Mangaluru taluk and Kuvettu in Belthangady taluk.
The centres had combined paddy harvesters, paddy-transplanting machines, power tillers, tractors, paddy threshers, mist blowers and the like. They have 26 types of farm equipment, he said.
