PALAKKAD: The paddy procurement for the second crop in Palakkad district began in Alathur taluk on Monday.
A total of 420 quintals was procured from the Vadakkencherry, Kannampra and Puducode panchayats. Last year, Supplyco procured 76,650 tonnes of the second crop in the district. Supplyco officials said they hoped to achieve their target of 80,000 tonnes this year. Paddy was being procured from about 20,000 registered farmers at Rs 12 a kg.
There are three paddy marketing officers of Supplyco in the district.
In addition, Supplyco officials said nine staff from the Agriculture Department had been assisting them. Further, the government has agreed to provide six more officials from the latter. It is felt that with the deployment of 15 employees, the procurement would be smooth. The meeting convened at the Collectorate decided that 41 co-operative societies which are in the fray this time for procuring paddy from farmers, would do so only in areas where Supplyco does not procure the crop.
However, Joint Registrar of cooperative societies Surendra Mohan, who chaired the meeting, told ‘Express’ that farmers who had registered at the Krishi Bhavan could decide whether they wanted to give it to the Supplyco or the societies.
If farmers prefer societies over Supplyco “for faster payment” they could do so, he said.
Meanwhile, Supplyco officials said procurement by a single agency would benefit farmers as it would avoid a lot of confusion.
(The societies also plan to take the paddy at Rs 12/kg.) They said since Supplyco was procuring in every panchayat where there is paddy cultivation, there was “no need for the societies to do so”.
Though last year too, the societies had lobbied for being included for the procurement, the government decided to entrust only Supplyco with the job.