Characterization of selected models of custom hiring centers in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana states

India is a predominantly agricultural country, where major breakthrough in agricultural production has occurred through the agriculture mechanization. The study was undertaken in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana States. Two erstwhile districts namely Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts in Telangana state and Tikamgarh and Guna districts in Madhya Pradesh were selected for the study. Four Custom Hiring Center models were studied. Model I represents the government subsidized CHCs run by government and farmers, Model II represents the CHC run by Farmer Producer Organization owning FME exclusively for hiring purpose. Model III represents the subsidized CHC run by NGOs and Model IV represents the CHC provided by KVK to farmers owning FME apart from using machinery services in their own farm. For characterizing the models, the primary sources scientists, experts, staffs of CHCs and farmers were also consulted and based on characteristics of ownership, funding, management, farm machinery and equipment booking, payment method, repair and maintenance, documents required to FME, area of operation, working hours, number of employees, criteria for machinery and equipment purchase, fixing of hiring charges, availability of skilled labour for operating farm machinery and equipment, data maintenance and scalability of the Custom Hiring Centers models are studied.