DHARMAPURI: Ragi cultivators from the district are delighted as the district cooperation and the Foods and Consumer Protection Department increased the procurement price of ragi to Rs 42,900 at Direct Purchase Centres (DPC).
In 2023, during the International Year of Millets celebration, a DPC was opened at Pennagaram, Harur, and Dharmapuri for ragi procurement. This initiative by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporations, which provided 2 kg of ragi to ration card holders, was greatly appreciated by the farmers.
However, to the farmers’ delight, this year, the DPC was inaugurated on Wednesday by Collector K Santhi, with the announcement that a tonne of ragi will be procured for Rs 42,900, which is Rs 42.90 per kg.
Commenting on this, M Selvaraj, from Nallampalli, said, “Ragi is a staple food the people of Dharmapuri and it is widely cultivated in the district for own usage by farmers. However, with the opening of DPC, the price of ragi has increased with the DPC offering the best prices.
This has led to farmers showing more interest in selling their produce at DPC. Right now the procurement price at the DPC is announced at Rs 42.90 per kg, but in the market, we can only sell it for Rs 32 to Rs 35 per kg. So, this year more farmers will visit DPC compared to last year because last year the procurement price was Rs 38.46 per kg.”
Officials from the district supply office, said, “Through Public Distribution System (PDS), over 2 kg of ragi was provided to over 4.65 lakh card holders last year. This required about 936 MT of ragi.
However, through DPC we collected about 597.10 MT of ragi and paid about Rs 2.29 crore to farmers.”
V Gunasekaran, Joint Director of Agriculture, told TNIE, “As per a Government Order (GO), the government fixed a target of 17,000 MT from Dharmapuri, Erode, Krishnagiri, and Salem farmers to be procured at a Minimum Support Price of Rs 42.90 per kg. In 2023, when the DPC was opened in Dharmapuri, we had only procured 32.15 MT from farmers, in 2024, we collected 597.10 MT.
However, in 2025, we are expecting to procure about 1,500 MT or more. We are creating awareness among farmers to get them involved with DPC where they can get the highest price.”