THANJAVUR: Irked over harvest machine operators increasing rent compared to last year, the farmers involved in the harvesting of early samba paddy urged the district administration to immediately convene a tripartite meeting with officials and private harvest machine operators to fix a fair rent. The harvesting of early samba paddy just commenced in parts of Thanjavur district. Samba and thalady paddy crops have been cultivated in more than 3.5 lakh acres in Thanjavur district this year.
Of this, around 300 acres, mostly in Orathanadu area, have been harvested so far. R Sukumaran, a farmer from Kakkarai, said the operators have increased the rent rate by Rs 200-Rs 400 per hour. "During the recent kuruvai paddy harvest season, the rent was around Rs 2,600. Now they charge around Rs 2,800-Rs 3,000 per hour. The district administration should convene a tripartite meeting at the earliest to fix a fair rate,"Sukumaran added. Sekar, a farmer from Soorakkottai who harvested early samba paddy on Wednesday said he paid Rs 2,800 per hour.
An official of the agriculture engineering department said that a proposal for the meeting has already been prepared and would be held soon, adding that the department currently has five harvesting machines. Around 20 more machines would soon be put to use soon, the official added. "The machines with the department will be made available to the farmers at a rent rate of Rs 1,880 per hour for belt type machines and Rs 1,160 per hour for tyre type machines," the official said.