Shillong, Jul 19: Farmers in Gambegre block now have a one-stop facility to rent tractors and processing equipment, with the opening of a Custom Hiring Centre at Darechikgre (Bolwari) village on Saturday.
Gambegre MLA Mehtab Chandee A Sangma inaugurated the CHC, set up by CAU (I) Tura under AICRP-Women in Agriculture with support from ICAR-CIWA, Bhubaneswar.
The centre is meant to ease the burden of high equipment costs for small and marginal farmers. Instead of buying, farmers can now hire machines for land prep, weeding, spraying, drying and packaging. The machines available include power tiller, power weeder, pulveriser, solar dryer, sprayer and sealing machine.
Alongside mechanisation, the programme also focused on women and rural enterprises.
Comilla cotton sanitary pads made from locally grown cotton were distributed to women. The product was developed by CAU’s College of Community Science under an ICAR-CICR, Nagpur project led by college Dean Jyoti V Vastrad, aimed at affordable menstrual hygiene.
In addition, Dal’dro’ self-help group bakery got a commercial dough mixer. The group, trained by the college, is expected to scale up production and improve product quality.
