TIRUCHY: With samba harvesting having commenced, farmers in the district express concerns over the inadequate number of harvesters with the agricultural engineering department. The department has three machines, though samba paddy cultivation has been carried out on over 1.25 lakh acres in the district.
This has left many farmers reliant on private operators, who they say often charge exorbitant rates. Farmers hence want the government to increase the number of harvesters, to ensure timely harvest.
Harvester operators increase the rent for their machines indiscriminately due to heavy demand for the equipment when the samba paddy harvest commences, alleged the farmers. The hourly rent for the harvester owned by the agricultural engineering department department is Rs 1,160 for tyre-type harvester and Rs 1,880 for chain-type harvester.
The department has also fixed Rs 1,600 and Rs 2,400 for these categories, respectively, for private operators. They, however, demand Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,500, complain farmers. A large number of paddy-harvesting machines would arrive in the Cauvery delta region from various parts of the state, particularly from Athur, Salem, Madurai and Namakkal and even from Karnataka.
Utilising the demand, operators increase the rent on their own, said N Veerasekaran, the state spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. "Samba harvesting has already commenced in many parts of the district. As farmers are rushing the process due to rain, harvester operators collect rent which is twice that fixed by the district administration.
Small and marginal farmers find it hard to pay such exorbitant amount. The district collector should convene a meeting to fix the rent and also should nominate officials to check if the operators follow instructions," he added. The government should provide the required number of harvesters commensurate with the quantum of crop acreage in a district, he further said.