Soon, farmers in Karnataka will be able to rent a tractor and other farm implements in much the same way that one hires a cab through ride-hailing platforms such as Ola or Uber.

Trringo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, is aiming to do to farm mechanisation what Ola and Uber have done to urban transportation.

Trringo has developed a platform that farmers can access by dialling a toll-free number or through an app, in their local languages, to order tractor and other farm equipment.

As part of its MoU with the government of Karnataka, Trringo is setting up about 101 custom hiring centres in the State by the year-end to rent out equipment through franchisees. Last month, Trringo’s first custom hiring centre was inaugurated at Hithnal Hobli, in Kushtagi taluka of Koppal district, Karnataka.

Currently, the farm equipment rental market is highly fragmented and dominated by local entrepreneurs or some large farmers. “We will be offering farmers the right to mechanisation,” said Arvind Kumar, CEO, Trringo, claiming that the platform would bring in transparency while making tractors and implements more accessible through a branded service.

How it works

Once a farmer places a request for a rental, the Trringo call centre directs the nearby franchisee or hub to offer the required services through a range of implements right from sowing to harvesting, depending on his needs.

“With our custom hiring centres we will reach out directly to the farmers and enable them to deploy mechanisation technology on a pay-per-use basis without having to invest in the asset. Further, it will generate rural employment and help bridge the gap between requirement and availability by offering farmers easy access to a wide variety of tractors,” Arvind Kumar said.

Tractor rentals would be priced upwards of ₹600-700 per hour and would vary depending on the farmers’ requirement of the implements such as rotavators, tillers, seed drills, harvesters among others. A franchisee has to invest in a minimum of five tractors and about ten implements to operate a custom hiring centre entailing a minimum investment of around ₹50 lakh.

As part of its initiative to promote farm mechanisation, the Karnataka government is extending a subsidy of around 75 per cent to offer tractor rental services to farmers and has roped in other players John Deere and VST Tillers, who will be setting up custom hiring centres across the State.

“Karnataka is an important market for us and going forward our aim is to expand our operations by setting up key hubs in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan,” Kumar said.

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