NAGAPATTINAM: After nearly two weeks of dry weather that helped farmers in Nagapattinam dry out their paddy drenched during last month’s heavy rains, they said procurement has slowed down once again due to inadequate transport and manpower.
In Thethi and nearby areas, farmers fear that with only 600-800 sacks being moved out of Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs) each day, large quantities of paddy may stagnate and risk damage if rain returns.
In Nagapattinam district, kuruvai cultivation was carried out on about 30,217.34 hectares, of which harvesting has been completed on 29,380 hectares, as of Thursday. Harvesting and paddy procurement are under way across the remaining 837.34 hectares. However, farmers say they have been unable to procure and sell their harvested paddy for more than 15 days due to slow procurement and transport delays.
Earlier, the delayed northeast monsoon had left harvested paddy grains across the delta drenched, forcing farmers to dry them along roadsides and open spaces. The recent spell of dry weather has helped farmers resume drying and stacking the paddy sacks at homes, on roads and in procurement centres. However, the continued stagnation of paddy sacks at DPCs has become a major concern, as farmers say the lack of sufficient lorries to transport the stock has left sacks of paddy exposed for days.
S R Tamilselvan from the Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Protection Association said, “DPCs in Thethi, Sirirangudipuliyur, Perunkadambanur, Sangamangalam, Thirukkuvalai, Thittachery, Thiruppundi and Thevur are facing severe stagnation due to inadequate transport arrangements.” He said the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) should hire private lorries or use tractors owned by farmers to move the stock quickly.
However, a TNCSC official said the shortage of loadmen, only seven or eight at each Direct Procurement Centre in the affected areas, has slowed paddy procurement. When lorries arrive once or twice a day, loading takes two to three hours, halting procurement during that time. The official added that more local loadmen are needed, as the daily target of procurement and movement of 1,000 paddy sacks has fallen to 600–800 due to the manpower shortage in the affected areas.