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Paddy farmers face hurdles due to shortage of Paddy Procurement Centres
Farmers are getting low prices for the produce even though the state government had announced support to them by setting Paddy Procurement Centres (PPCs). Now, the traders are purchasing paddy at less than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed by the government.
Nellore: Farmers are getting low prices for the produce even though the state government had announced support to them by setting Paddy Procurement Centres (PPCs). Now, the traders are purchasing paddy at less than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed by the government.
Even though the district administration had announced that 165 PPCs would function in the district, till now purchases has started only in 46 centres across the district. There has been huge demand for these centres as paddy harvesting activity is in full swing and the farmers are expressing ire over the procedures the administration has been adopting for procurement.
It may be recalled that the state government had fixed Rs. 13,000 for BPT variety, and Rs. 11,000-11,500 for Nellore 34449 varieties. So far, 3,375 metric tonnes of paddy were procured till Friday at these PPCs. Major problem comes with the Nellore variety 34449 as there was categorisation of Grade-A and ordinary varieties and the millers are not showing interest on the varieties.
Further, the software designed for procurement is not accepting the lands that have not been entered in WebLand data. So, the produce from these lands is not being recognised by the government software which has turned out to be a major obstacle to the farmers.
Moreover, only 80 bags of 40 kg per acre are being accepted by the software and the rest are being rejected giving jolt to the farmers. “When the software accepts only 80 bags of 40 kg each per acre, what about the rest of the stocks being transported to the centres? There should be at least provision for 100 bags and the software has to be modified accordingly,” said Chalasani Kotireddy, State Secretary of Consortium of Indian Farmers' Associations (CIFA).
He also said when mills are not tagged on to the PPC concerned, there should be a provision for attaching them to the nearest PPC. They also say around 15 lakh tonnes of paddy is expected to reach the market shortly and the government has to take measures not to trouble the farming community.
