RAMANATHAPURAM: As the samba paddy harvest season nears the end in Ramanathapuram, around 759 tonnes of paddy have been procured for sale as of now by the 50 direct procurement Centres (DPCs) functioning in the district under the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC), District Collector Johny Tom Varghese said in a release on Friday. On this occasion, he also requested farmers to opt to sell their produce through DPCs instead of open markets.
This year, more than 1.3 lakh hectares were used for paddy cultivation in Ramanathapuram. Though the samba season this year started off well, more than 60% of the harvest withered away following irrigation woes. However, apart from the affected areas in the district, the harvest process in the remaining areas is in its final stages.
It has also been revealed that despite the farmers showing interest in selling their crops through the DPCs, the amount of paddy procured by the DPCs is minimal compared to the previous years.
According to official sources, more than 5.5 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was produced during the previous Samba season, during which the TNCSC department was able to procure 32,000 metric tonnes in 2022. The procurement during the Samba season in 2021 was 19,000 metric tonnes, they added.
Collector Johnny Tom Varghese, in the release, stated that around 126 farmers have benefited from the DPCs and advised the farmers to opt DPCs for selling their paddy instead of open market mediators. "Considering the welfare of the farmers, more DPCs will be opened in the district. With the harvest season pacing towards the end, more farmers are likely to sell their harvest with the DPCs in the coming days," the collector added.
While speaking, Gavasker, a farmer leader from Thiruvadanai in Ramanathapuram said, "Farmers who have cultivated varieties like RNR and PPT (Ponni) opt open markets as the prices for the varieties are Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,250 per 62-kilo bag respectively. Comparing these prices, the prices offered at the DPCs are lesser besides the additional expenses for transportation and unloading charges. Hence, farmers who opted for these varieties have chosen open markets than DPCs to sell their harvest. Farmers who opted for other varieties such as NLR, AST, and others take their produce to their DPCs as the prices are decently higher for these varieties than the prices offered in the open markets," he said.