Govt to help 150,000 farmers access machinery, curb stubble burning

The government has announced a plan to extend agricultural machinery access to 1.5 lakh (150,000) small and marginal farmers through an outlay of ₹8,550 cror...

What Happened

The government has announced a plan to extend agricultural machinery access to 1.5 lakh (150,000) small and marginal farmers through an outlay of ₹8,550 crore, channelled primarily through the expansion of Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs).
The initiative is framed as a dual-objective intervention: advancing farm mechanisation for small landholders who cannot afford individual machinery ownership, and reducing crop residue burning (stubble burning) through machinery that can process paddy and wheat straw in situ.
Cumulatively, the Central Sector Scheme on Crop Residue Management (CRM) has released ₹4,237.47 crore since 2018–19, facilitating the distribution of more than 3.53 lakh crop residue management machines and the establishment of over 43,535 Custom Hiring Centres.
Punjab and Haryana have recorded over a 90% reduction in farm fire incidents under this programme.

Static Topic Bridges

Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) and Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)

The Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) was launched in 2014–15 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to bridge the machinery access gap faced by India's predominantly small landholders. A Custom Hiring Centre is a professionally managed facility providing modern agricultural equipment — tractors, combine harvesters, zero-till seed drills, laser land levellers, rotavators, and balers — on a pay-per-use rental basis.

Under SMAM, 50% financial assistance is provided to individual farmers for purchasing crop residue management machinery; 80% assistance is extended to cooperatives, self-help groups, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), and panchayats setting up CHCs.
CHC-based mechanisation reduces cultivation costs by 15–25% and can increase yields by 10–30% through timely field operations.
The hub-and-spoke CHC model — being piloted in Gujarat and Karnataka — allows a central pool of equipment to be deployed across multiple villages, improving capital utilisation.
Digital booking platforms for CHC equipment rental are being introduced to reduce waiting times and improve transparency.

Connection to this news: The new ₹8,550 crore outlay builds directly on the SMAM-CRM framework; understanding CHCs explains why targeted government subsidy, rather than direct purchase support, is the preferred delivery mechanism for small farmers.

Stubble Burning — Causes, Consequences, and Policy Response

Stubble burning — the open-field combustion of paddy and wheat residue — is a seasonal agricultural practice concentrated in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh. The narrow window between paddy harvest and wheat sowing (approximately 2–3 weeks in October–November) incentivises farmers to clear fields rapidly and cheaply through burning, rather than through mechanised incorporation.

Stubble burning contributes substantially to the severe air quality deterioration over Delhi-NCR during October–November, with PM2.5 and PM10 levels routinely exceeding safe limits by 10–20 times.
Alternatives to burning include: happy seeder (sows wheat into standing stubble), super SMS (shreds and spreads residue), baler (packages residue for bio-energy or industry), and mulching.
The Central Sector Scheme on CRM (2018–19 onwards) provides subsidised access to these technologies through CHCs, specifically targeting Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.
Punjab and Haryana together account for the bulk of farm fire events tracked by satellite (ISRO VIIRS/MODIS data).

Connection to this news: The machinery access scheme directly targets the economic constraint that makes burning the default choice for small farmers — if mechanised alternatives are available free or cheaply through a CHC, the incentive to burn diminishes.

Smallholder Agriculture and the Mechanisation Gap

India has approximately 146 million farm holdings, of which over 80% are smaller than 2 hectares (classified as small or marginal). The economics of machinery ownership do not work for tiny plots — the capital cost of a tractor (₹5–10 lakh) or combine harvester (₹20–25 lakh) cannot be amortised over small acreages, creating a structural mechanisation gap.

India's farm mechanisation level is estimated at approximately 45–50%, compared to 90%+ in China and near-universal coverage in developed agricultural economies.
Low mechanisation contributes to high labour costs, post-harvest losses, and delays in sowing/harvesting that reduce yields.
The average operational holding size in India is approximately 1.08 hectares (Economic Survey data).
Mechanisation through CHCs allows the benefits of precision agriculture equipment — including GPS-guided tractors and drone sprayers — to reach smallholders without individual ownership.

Connection to this news: Scaling CHC access to 1.5 lakh additional small farmers directly addresses the mechanisation gap; the ₹8,550 crore allocation signals that the government views CHC-based shared services as the scalable model for farm modernisation.

Key Facts & Data

Target beneficiaries: 1,50,000 (1.5 lakh) small and marginal farmers.
Announced outlay: ₹8,550 crore.
Cumulative CRM scheme release since 2018–19: ₹4,237.47 crore.
Crop residue management machines distributed: more than 3.53 lakh.
Custom Hiring Centres established: over 43,535.
Farm fire reduction: over 90% in Punjab and Haryana.
Subsidy structure: 50% to individual farmers; 80% to cooperatives/FPOs/SHGs for CHC establishment.
CHC mechanisation reduces cultivation costs by 15–25% and can raise yields by 10–30%.
India has ~146 million farm holdings; over 80% are under 2 hectares.
Scheme coverage states: Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi (primary focus).