MADURAI/RAMANATHAPURAM: As farmers in Ramanathapuram district kick-starting harvesting season, the civil supplies department inaugurated over 70 direct procurement centres (DPCs) for procuring Samba paddy. On the flip side, crops in Madurai are yet to mature due to the delay in starting the season.
Samba paddy crops usually reach harvesting stage before Pongal. Although Pongal is just around the corner, farmers are taking things at a slower pace this year. Ramanathapuram District Collector Vishnu Chandran said, "As the harvest season progresses, additional 30 DPCs will be opened in the district. Farmers can get Rs 2,310 for a quintal and Rs 2,265 a quintal for better quality paddy. Thus, farmers are advised to sell their paddy to the DPCs instead of open markets." Collector Chandran added that overall paddy production is likely to cross four lakh metric tonnes this year. As a result, the civil supplies department has fixed a target of one lakh metric tonnes, the highest in the last few years.
Officials sources said that the TNCSC department procured 32,000 metric tonnes in 2022, and 19,000 metric tonnes in 2021. The numbers hit rock bottom in 2023, when the season failed due to drought and only a few thousand metric tonnes could be procured. Despite floods and irrigation woes marring the season, the target of one lakh metric tonnes is likely to be achieved since the acreage of samba paddy went up to 1.39 lakh hectares in Ramanathapuram, said the collector. This, he said, is the reason behind setting up over 100 DPCs, as against the usual 50 DPCs, in the district. Moreover, 10 storage facilities have been set up.
"Due to the unseasonal rainfall, we had to harvest paddy and then dry it under the sun. Yet, traders at the open market would offer lesser prices. Farmers are facing hardships due to this," said Subramanian, a farmer from Ramanathapuram.
On the flip side, samba paddy in Madurai is yet to reach the maturing stage after farmers started the season only in November-December period. According to the agriculture department, paddy acreage also dropped due to irrigation woes. As against the usual acreage of 35,000 hectares, samba was cultivated on only 29,000 hectares until January.
A senior official from the civil supplies department stated that considering the decline in acreage, the department is inspecting areas to be considered for DPCs. The official added that with the decline in acreage, procurement is likely to take a hit this year.