Farmers in Dakshina Kannada will have to travel less to get farm equipment as the Department of Agriculture has proposed opening of six more custom hire centres, besides the five existing ones.
According to H. Kempe Gowda, Joint Director, Department of Agriculture, Dakshina Kannada, the new centres have been proposed at Moodbidri and Surathkal in Mangaluru taluk; Sullia in Sullia taluk; Kadaba in Puttur taluk; Kokkada in Belthangady taluk and Vitla in Bantwal taluk in 2015-16. The government’s approval is awaited.
Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, an NGO, manages the five centres opened last financial year. They are at Panja in Sullia taluk; Uppinangady in Puttur taluk; Panemangaluru in Bantwal taluk; Gurupura in Mangaluru taluk and Kuvettu in Belthangady taluk.
He said the government was yet to decide which NGO would have to manage the centres to be opened this year.
Mr. Gowda told The Hindu that now each of five centres in the district had combined paddy harvesters. In addition, each centre had two paddy-transplanting machines. Of them, a machine transplanted paddy in four rows and another in eight rows.
There is demand from farmers to have small paddy harvesters at the centres. The NGO managing the centres would be told to procure them and rent out.
Some farmers have suggested if each centre had a lorry, that will save the transportation cost of farmers. This demand came up at a meeting T.N. Prakash Kammaradi, chairman, Karnataka Agriculture Price Commission had with paddy growers here on Saturday.
Each of the five centres has combined
paddy harvesters
They also have paddy transplanting machines
