At this time when farmers are cultivating paddy, the newly opened service centre under the Farm Machinery Corporation Limited or FMCL has come as a blessing for the farmers in Paro. Through the centre, the farmers are getting uninterrupted hiring service of machinery at a reasonable rate.
The seven power tillers at the service centre located in Shari are used by over a thousand farmers in Dopshari, Dotey and Hungrel Gewogs.
The farmers say they get the farm machines without delay. The FMCL charges Nu 1,500 per day inclusive of fuel and operator charge.
“Unlike in the past, we need not go all the way to FMCL head office in Bondey to book the machine. Now we can easily do it here. Moreover, in the past, when we had to transport the machine from the head office to our fields, it was hectic,” said Jabji-Luchhe Tshogpa, Dolay Tshering.
“While a few of the households own a power tiller, most don’t. For them, the power tillers hired from the FMCL are convenient. Moreover, the hire charge per day is less in FMCL. We have to pay Nu 1,500 from FMCL compared to Nu 2,000 from a private individual,” said Atsho-Phunub Tshogpa, Lamkey.
With the hiring services available at their doorstep, the FMCL is also looking into resolving the issue of non-functional machines. Last year, many farmers lost a significant amount of paddy to rainfall due to machine malfunction.
“We need to make spare parts and the repair and maintenance services available at the centre. Any services that are provided from the head office and the regional office should be made available from the service centre at their capacity,” said Jitshen, Deputy General Manager of FMCL.
Meanwhile, the FMCL is exploring to encourage private individuals to take up hiring services into a profitable business. This is because the corporation is seeing significant demand for farm machinery in recent years.
“Ultimately hiring services that are provided from the FMCL should get privatised. In a way, the little experiences that we gain will be taken into consideration to develop a strategy as to how to privatise these hiring services to benefit our private enterprises,” added the Manager.
Currently, there are 19 such centres across the country. And the FMCL is planning to open similar centres in Tsirang and Panbang.
The Farm Machinery Corporation Limited was established as a state-owned enterprise in 2016 to provide farm mechanisation of goods and services to the farming community at an affordable price.
Namgay Wangchuk, Paro
Edited by Sonam Pem
