THANJAVUR: Even as kuruvai paddy harvesting is over in 95% of the 78,486 hectares the crop was taken up for cultivation in the district, the procurement by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC)-run direct purchase centres (DPCs) has dropped by about 38% as compared to last year.
Farmers’ preference for private traders and the fall in yield are cited as reasons.
"We have procured 1.36 lakh tonnes of kuruvai paddy so far. As many as 307 DPCs were functioning during the peak harvest period. Now, 205 of them are functioning. Last year during the same period we procured 2.19 lakh tonnes of the seasonal paddy," a TNCSC official told TNIE.
This comes despite this year’s acreage being higher than the 72,816 hectares the seasonal paddy cultivation was taken up last year.
S Sivakumar, a farmer from Tiruvaiyaru said, “Farmers in our area preferred private traders to DPCs because they procured the paddy even when the moisture content was slightly higher. Even though the price offered was not higher than that offered at DPCs, we sold the paddy to private traders as there was no extra expenditure for us to dry the crop. Besides we could avoid paying bribes to DPC officials.”
Durairaj, a farmer from Kazhumangalam, pointed out that the traders procured at the fields themselves, thereby eliminating the hassles of transporting the harvest to DPCs. Another reason attributed was the dip in yield this kuruvai season. "We usually get a minimum of 36 bags of paddy per acre.
However this year we got only about 8 to 9 bags per acre due to lack of Cauvery water and pest attacks," said Antonysamy, a farmer from Manakkarambai. Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department officials concur that there is a significant fall in yield. Normally the yield would be around 6,000 kg/hectare during kuruvai season. This year it has come down to an average of under 5,500 kg/hectare, they said.