The study has examined the role of Cooperative Agro-Service Centres (CASCs) in institutionalization of custom hiring services in Punjab based on the primary data collected from 100 such CASCs spread over the state. The study has established the increasing level of participation of CASCs through their acquisition of sophisticated and costly farm machinery for custom hiring purposes. The involvement of the sample CASCs in providing farm services is increasing over time, in terms of number of beneficiaries and the operated area that got benefitted by the use of custom hired machinery. The financial health of the sample CASCs has been improving steadily with financial support extended to such centres in terms of subsidy on one hand and increasing reach on the other hand translating into increased earnings by way of custom hiring. The study has suggested replication of this model in other states of the country to reduce production cost and human drudgery.

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The peculiarity of India’s pulse production scenario highlighted that although India is the largest producer of pulses in the world, its domestic demand outstrips domestic production and the shortfall is met from imports. India imported nearly 5.6 million tons of pulses worth Rs. 18748 crore during 2017-18. The national demand for pulses is increasing as a consequence of increasing population, increasing vegetarianism, measures adopted to tackle the problem of protein energy malnutrition and this necessitates the concerted efforts to increase the production of pulses. Long-term solution to meet demand for pulses lies in increasing the production of pulses in the country which is indeed a challenge for us to ensure supply of pulses as their cultivation is primarily taken up under rain-fed conditions on marginal and sub-marginal lands and is prone to production losses due to moisture stress. The current production scenario of pulses in India reveals that the domestic supply of pulses is nearly capable of meeting the growing demand of its consumers. About 30 million hectares of land is under pulses, producing about 25 million tons annually during 2017-18. Moreover, the realignment of cropping pattern to relatively less water-intensive crops such as pulses in water-scarce areas will have multitude benefits for all.

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