NAGAPATTINAM: In a relief for farmers, the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) has also allowed unregistered procurement in direct procurement centres. The move comes in the wake of farmers expressing concerns over the electronic direct procurement centre (e-DPC) system that came into effect on October 1.
Under the e-DPC or paddy e-procurement system, farmers have to register online and book time slots for sales of their crop to the procurement centres in advance. With farmers expressing concern over their harvest suffering losses due to increased moisture attraction during the 'waiting period' – particularly during the monsoon season, and reservations about approaching e-Seva centres and waiting for the village administrative officers to verify details, TNCSC has now enabled a provision wherein they can sell through unregistered procurement also.
P Pandiyan, the Senior Regional Manager of TNCSC in Nagapattinam, said, "The farmers can bring their harvest to sell to the DPCs with or without online booking. We will try to accommodate both the channels of procurement at the DPCs without conflict."
Calling the e-DPC a good scheme meant to regulate the procurement process, District Collector A Arun Thamburaj said, “It is still early days to see how it goes along with the unregistered mode of procurement. We will analyse and adapt where necessary. "
"TNCSC should ensure that there are no conflicts between registered and unregistered farmers. They should not be kept waiting for long after choosing to register to avoid regretting the registration," farmer-leader 'Cauvery' V Dhanabalan said.
Concerns over moisture remain:
Farmers, meanwhile, have requested to relax the moisture percentage requirement criteria in paddy from 17 % to 20 % citing the monsoon. TNCSC officials, however, said they cannot do so without FCI approval.
"We request the TNCSC to introduce the 'mobile procurement system' to avoid rush at the DPCs and procure it at the farmer's place. We also demand to deploy 'mobile dryers' to assist farmers in drying the paddy before sale," said farmer-representative V Ramakrishnan from Melabudanur.
New MSP comes into effect:
Meanwhile, the new minimum support price (MSP) for paddy has come into effect from October 1 and will continue till September 30, 2022. The Tamil Nadu government has increased its incentives for MSP from last year. The total price per quintal for fine-class paddy and common-class paddy are Rs 2060 and Rs 2015 respectively. The increase in incentives has attracted mixed reactions among farmers.
RP Balasubramaniyan, the district president of Thamizhaga Kaviri Vivasayigal Sangam, said, "The incentives are insufficient considering the increased amount of investment we spend on the inputs and labour. We demand Rs 2500 for paddy.”