Sunsari, Oct. 25 -- Farmer Mohan Kumar Adhikari of Ramdhuni Municipality, Sunsari, is relieved that his days of back-breaking labour are over. Thanks to mechanisation, he can now manage his farm with ease and efficiency.

A new system of custom hiring services-centres that rent out agricultural machinery and tools to farmers based on local needs-has taken a significant leap in the eastern Tarai plains, the country's key food-producing region.

Adhikari, 70, is now the only one tending his family's two-bigha [1.35 hectares] farm. His sons-one settled in Canada, another a university teacher in Nepal-chose other professions because traditional farming was too labour-intensive and unprofitable.

"Farming, obviously, is difficult," he says. "B...