Citing rain, Thanjavur farmers want moisture content norm for paddy procurement at DPCs eased to 22%
THANJAVUR: With the district receiving widespread rain over the last few days, farmers harvesting paddy have appealed to the government to relax moisture norms for procurement at DPCs from 17 per cent to 22 per cent and issue an order authorising collectors to implement it as and when required, without waiting for FCI approval. In Thanjavur district, kuruvai paddy has been cultivated in 1.97 lakh acres and harvest has been completed in 50 per cent area.
The harvested paddy is being brought to the direct procurement centres (DPCs) functioning in 276 places across the district. However, intermittent rain since last week has left farmers worried. "There was heavy rain in Orathanadu on Thursday night. With this rain, farmers could not bring paddy with moisture content below 17 per cent, which is the norm", said R Sukumaran of Kakkarai.
Further, he said paddy brought by around 10-15 farmers is heaped in the DPCs waiting for procurement and more is on the way. "There are very few yards (kalam) for drying the paddy", he said adding that it is inevitable to relax the moisture norms. AKR Ravichander of Ammayagaram pointed out there have been dramatic variations in the rain.
"There has been rain in the off season and farmers could not plan properly", he said adding that now the moisture content is more than the fixed norms of 17 per cent. "Farmers could sell paddy only if the moisture content is increased to 22 per cent and beyond", he added.
He further said that power to relax the moisture content based on the climate condition should be devolved to the district collectors as the mandatory field visit by FCI officials results in a delay in relaxation of moisture norm and in many instances, when the permission came, the harvest season was already over. S Chandrakumar, general secretary of TNCSC workers union, appealed to the state government to get permission from the Union Government to procure paddy with moisture content up to 22 per cent.
He also urged the state government to get permission from the centre for fixing moisture norms based on the ground situation. Despite repeated attempts, the senior regional manager of TNCSC could not be reached for comments. Since September 1, TNCSC has been procuring fine variety paddy at Rs 2,545 per quintal and common variety at Rs 2,500 per quintal.