MAYILADUTHURAI: The district administration has warned of legal action against those who hinder harvest tests in the district. The warning has come in the wake of complaints from testing teams about locals interfering during the crop-cutting experiments (CCEs).
Samba and thalady paddy harvesting is under way in the district over about 70,000 hectares. Crop cutting experiments in 287 revenue villages for crop insurance under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) are simultaneously under way.
Several teams comprising members from the agriculture, revenue department and statistics departments, and the empanelled insurance agency are conducting the experiments. "We have received complaints that farmers from the villages are causing various disturbances during the experiments.
Only, the officials concerned would be allowed at the test sites. If anyone is found to be causing disturbances, appropriate legal action would be taken against them," Collector AP Mahabharathi warned. According to the district administration, 1,108 CCEs have been planned to be conducted on ongoing samba and thalady cultivation for 2023-24, with four places in each village.
The survey numbers of the test sites chosen as samples are random numbers issued by the statistics department. "If the representatives from the insurance firm are unable to conduct the tests due to interference from farmers, locals or unrelated officials, then a situation may arise where the villages would not be taken into consideration.
We hence request the farmers to cooperate with the experiments," Mahabharathi said. According to sources, farmers are often resentful that crop-cutting experiments are conducted in places where there is more yield, thus rendering them ineligible for crop insurance. The farmers are demanding the experiments to be conducted in places where there is less yield. The unseasonal rains days ahead of the harvest in January have also affected the yield in thousands of hectares.
The farmers in such areas are concerned if their yield loss would be taken into consideration by the random sampling method. A Ramalingam, a farmer representative from Mappadugai said, "The existing harvest test procedures are controversial and unreasonable. Fields need to be tested individually to determine yield loss."