Tamil Nadu: Ensure our efforts don't turn into lost cause, pray Delta farmers

TIRUCHY: With the Kuruvai harvest nearing completion, Delta farmers are struggling to get their produce procured, as the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) has failed to ensure proper planning or to conduct mandatory consultation with farmers before the purchase process.

As poor transport facilities, shortage of gunny bags and several other shortcomings have led to significant stockpiles outside the Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs), farmers are dejected over the likelihood of their produce going to waste, with monsoon turning out to be vigorous at the start itself.

Detailing the problems faced by ryots, PR Pandian, president, Coordination Committee of All Farmers Association, said, “The Kuruvai cultivation in the Delta region this season has surpassed the previous year with 6.31 lakh acres against the normal 3.87 lakh acres. However, no adequate measures have been taken for a smooth procurement process. While just 30 pc of Kuruvai is left to be harvested, of the remaining 70 per cent of harvested paddy, only 40 per cent has been procured, and the rest have piled up outside DPCs. One can witness from 10,000 to 20,000 chippoms (40 kg bags) of paddy stored in every DPC."

Pandian

Attributing the poor planning to the subsequent transfer of five Managing Directors of TNCSC between January and October this year, Pandian said, "With the absence of heads, the department's decision-making process has been hit during the crucial period. The transfer of officials impacted the procurement process, particularly in the Delta region, badly."

However, he noted that the new managing director, A Annadurai, who knows the pulse of Delta farmers, is efficient enough to solve the prevailing issues. He also suggested that the TNCSC could open more open-air DPCs with proper safety arrangements to ensure swift procurement. He further highlighted that, "Though an adequate number of lorries are available in every district for the transportation of paddy from the DPC to godowns, there is an internal issue among the DPC staff and the lorry crew, which needs to be addressed immediately."

Pointing out that the gunny bag shortage is true, he rejected Food Minister R Sakkarapani's claim on the issue during his recent visit to the Delta region. “We have visited the DPCs in almost all the districts in the region, and the staff claimed that there is a shortage of gunny bags. The minister had said that the officials had gone to West Bengal to purchase additional gunny bags, but they haven't returned,” he said. Mentally exhausted farmers waiting in front of the DPCs are left in a lurch, lacking festive spirit for Deepavali, he said.

Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan, the secretary of the Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, said that besides permanent DPCs belonging to TNCSC in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai and Nagapattinam, several temporary DPCs too were opened to facilitate the procurement based on the inflow of paddy day after day. However, farmers complained that the agricultural officials have failed to accelerate the procurement through temporary DPCs, he said.

“Usually, the procured paddy would be transported to the warehouses from DPCs in lorries. But the number of lorries operated is comparatively less, and we have been demanding to increase the fleet strength,” said Vimalnathan.

Suggesting that each DPC should procure 1,000 bags every day, he said, “due to the lack of transportation, staff are left with no other option but to procure between 500 and 600 bags per day owing to space crunch. Apart from this, uncertain weather, including foggy conditions during the night, pose a great threat to the stocks."

AKR Ravichandar, president of Cauvery Delta Farmers Association, said that officials used to organise a tripartite meeting before procurement every year, but such meetings were not organised for the past three years. “In these meetings, we share our ideas and even put forth our grievances to the officials. These would be sorted out then and there. However, with no meeting this year, the procurement process has become a mess," Ravichandar claimed.

With the incessant rains damaging the produce, the stocked paddy at several DPCs had started sprouting, adding to the woes of farmers, he said.

He further noted that the farmers have been staging a series of protests across the region, demanding that the government save their produce, ensuring their several months of hard work don't go futile. Ravichandar also appealed to the government to ensure prompt procurement at least after Deepavali, not letting down the farmers who have been waiting with fingers crossed on the fate of the paddy piled in front of the DPCs.