ITC defends self, says it purchased all wood it promoted

Khammam: We have already heard about the protests by subabul and eucalyptus farmers in Khammam and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts in the last few weeks.

In a press conference held at a hotel in Khammam, ITC Chief Operating Officer Vidiraj Kulkarni tried to address the issues and allegations leveled by farmers against the ITC board and also released a press statement about the initiatives undertaken by the company in the district.

In the press statement released, the ITC said, "Since April 2018, ITC spearheaded a special initiative to procure wood directly from farmers in Khammam through the direct Purchase Order (PO) system.

In February 2019, nearly 75 per cent of the 15,175 MT of wood procured from Khammam, was through direct PO from farmers. ITC has also communicated to the farmers that those who are not able to arrange for harvesting / transportation, can use the ITC-nominated suppliers to sell their produce.

The company has clarified that the role of suppliers is to help farmers organise harvesters and transportation and pay to the farmers the rate as agreed with ITC and tonnages based on the Focal Point Weighbridges nominated by ITC.

While selling to the suppliers, farmers have been advised to sell on tonnage basis and not area (acre, hectare) basis. ITC has put in place systems to monitor and verify that fair prices have been remitted to the farmers' accounts.

Throughout the year, ITC buys most of the available mature wood (four-year-old plantations) from Khammam, so that the pulpwood growing farmers can be supported with appropriate pulpwood price, more and more livelihood is generated and farm incomes are protected."

In an interview with The Hans India, COO Kulkarni said that nearly 85 per cent of the crop from Khammam district has been purchased by ITC and that they were making necessary arrangements to procure the rest.

He added some mediators falsely promoted the cultivation of crop in excess without ITC's permission.

"ITC purchased the entire mature cultivated crop from the farmers that it officially promoted to cultivate and also purchased most of the crop that it didn't actually promote.

The present turmoil is actually caused by irresponsible mediators over promoting the growth of crop. We are taking all the necessary steps to help farmers and give a fair purchase price to all of them," the COO added.