Ramesh Kumar, a farmer in his mid-forties from Dongali in Haryana, is busy these days levelling the land of fellow farmers in neighbouring villages. Kumar, who acquired a laser-leveller about two years ago, charges about ₹600 per acre for the service.
“Levelling of farmland at least once in two years is crucial as it helps irrigate the field effectively, thereby helping farmers conserve water,” says Kumar. Annually, Kumar earns an additional income of up to ₹2 lakh through this service.
About 700 km away in Central Uttar Pradesh, Shamsuddin Siddiqui, the owner of Siddiqui Krishi Farm Centre in Budha village near Hardoi, has become an agricultural technology service provider.
Siddiqui has been renting out a range of farm implements, such as rotavators, disc harrows, threshers, trench planters and tractors, for a fee. He employs four workers trained in handling the equipment and earns about ₹4.5 lakh a year from his services.
The rapid adoption of mechanisation is creating a new breed of farmers-turned-entrepreneurs, such as Kumar and Siddiqui, offering custom services for hire.
Siddiqui is one of 60 farmer-turned-entrepreneurs shortlisted by Mitha Sona, a sugarcane productivity improvement project launched by DCM Shriram and IFC. He will soon be trained in financial management. “We are facilitating entrepreneurs to gain access to credit, and putting them in touch with farmers who are in need of these services,” says Joy Mukherjee, Deputy GM (Cane) at DCM Shriram’s sugar factory in Loni.
“A farmer just needs to own land and not equipment,” says Siddiqui, explaining that the entire spectrum of operations — tillage, planting, weeding and harvesting — can now be outsourced.
Yet another example is that of Ravindar Singh, a farmer in his mid-thirties, from Ugala, near Ambala. Singh not only cultivates land on a lease basis, but also offers his equipment and services for hire.
Dattatreya Kalokhe, a farmer in early sixties from Dehugaon near Pune, is another. “We have been using two tractors and a range of implement for our farming operations. We rent them out whenever we don’t use them,” says Kalokhe, adding that it helps him earn incremental income.