CUTTACK: The alleged delay in opening of procurement centres and issuance of tokens to paddy farmers in Cuttack district has forced them to opt for distress sale of their produce to local traders.
Sources said, the district-level paddy procurement committee meeting has decided to begin paddy purchase from December 26 in Athagarh and from January 7 from other blocks.
However, farmers who had cultivated short-term, high-yielding varieties of paddy have already completed harvesting their produce but are reluctant to bear the extra costs towards engaging labourers for drying and cleaning of the stock, maintaining fair average quality (FAQ), purchase gunny bags for their storage besides bear the transportation charges to the mandis. Hence, they have already started selling their produce to the local traders at lower prices. Farmers cultivating traditional paddy varieties also have the same opinion.
“Labour charges come to around Rs 400 per person while the price per gunny bag is Rs 30. Besides, there is also lack of proper storage facilities in most of our houses. In such a situation, the local traders are picking our stock from the doorstep at Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,800 per quintal without checking the quality.
On the other hand, millers deduct around 5 kg per bag over quality. Hence we feel it’s better to sell our stock to the local traders than wait for the government to purchase them at Rs 3,100 MSP,” said some farmers from Niali, Nischintakoili, Salipur, Cuttack Sadar and Mahanga blocks.
The farmers further added that though the procurement process is set to begin in a few days, they have not yet received their tokens for sale of their stock at the mandis. “Under such circumstances, we do not want to risk letting our paddy stock get damaged as we had taken up cultivation by availing loan,” they said.
Chief district civil supplies officer Chandra Sekhar Patra could not be reached for his comments on the matter.