CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday condemned the Union government for rejecting Tamil Nadu’s request to relax moisture norms for paddy procurement, despite recent heavy rains increasing moisture levels in harvested paddy.
In a statement here, the CM criticised the Prime Minister for ignoring farmers’ requests and questioned why the Union government, which has granted similar relaxations in past years, is refusing now.
"Having rejected the Coimbatore Metro Rail project, the Prime Minister visited the very same Coimbatore without the slightest concern. Before the trace of his visit has even faded, the Union BJP government has dismissed our request for a relaxation in the permitted moisture content for paddy procurement," the CM said.
The CM also highlighted that no relief has been provided for rain-damaged crops and argued that denying both compensation and moisture-level relaxation harms farmers.
He also urged the Union government to reconsider its decision and take a favourable stand that genuinely supports Tamil Nadu’s farming community.
Earlier in a release, the government said the CM wrote a letter to PM Modi demanding an immediate approval for increasing the moisture limit for procuring paddy from 17% to 22% and permitting Tamil Nadu to increase the paddy procurement target from 16 lakh tonnes fixed by the centre to the actual quantity of paddy bought from farmers by the state during the Kharif Marketing Season of 2025-2026.
The CM also sought relaxation of norms for testing of samples for fortified rice which is hindering the movement of milled rice.
In a statement, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said, “If a hike in the moisture content of paddy is not allowed, farmers will be forced to sell the harvested paddy to the private players and face huge losses. Hence the centre should accede to the farmers’ demand for raising the moisture content of the paddy.”
Condemning the union government’s decision, Durai Raj, joint state secretary of the Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Association, said the power to fix the moisture content should be given to the state government.
Arguing that delta districts face this problems every year, he said that by the time a decision is made regarding the moisture content, the procurement for Kuruvai harvest season is over, causing immense loss to farmers.
S R Tamilselvan from the Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Protection Association, Nagapattinam, said that the central government should fix the permitted moisture content at 22% at least for the upcoming Samba and Thaladi seasons.
P S Masilamani, general secretary of TNFA and a farmer from Tiruvarur, said that the rejection, even after the central teams inspecting the conditions of the ground during their visit, was nothing but a betrayal of the state’s farmers. He added that around 5% of Kuruvai paddy is yet to be sold by the farmers.
Sami Natarajan, the state general secretary of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam (AIKS) and a farmer from Orathanadu, criticised the decision and urged the union government to reconsider.
(With inputs from D Vincent Arockiaraj @ Tiruchy, S Ramesh @ Thanjavur and Mohamed Salahudeen B @ Nagapattinam)