TIRUCHY: Delta farmers expressed wrath over the slow process of kuruvai procurement that caused damage to harvested paddy stocked in front of DPCs. The paddy kept outdoors also started sprouting in many places. To overcome the loss, the farmers demanded compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre.
“Out of a total of 6.13 acres of kuruvai cultivation, around 30 per cent of ready-for-harvest kuruvai were submerged in the northeast monsoon rains and got damaged, while the harvested paddy, 10 to 20 per cent, was damaged and sprouted due to the rains. The poor procurement and failure of proper planning caused such a huge loss to the farmers,” said PS Masilamani, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam Affiliated to CPI.
He also said, apart from kuruvai, around 60,000 acres of standing samba and thalady were damaged due to the rains.
“The farmers spend huge amounts and many even pledged jewels or borrowed money to cultivate, but the government follows only the conventional method of crop damage assessment, according to which the compensation applies only to those farmers who lost 33 per cent of their crops. This method is completely wrong. The government should distribute a compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre,” Masilamani said.
The farmers claimed that several thousand paddy bags of paddy during the summer procurement had been damaged in the Delta due to unexpected rainfall. From then on, they had appealed to the State government for adequate facilities for kuruvai procurement to avoid such damages, as during kuruvai procurement, the rainfall would be inevitable.
They charged that the Chief Minister’s interaction with the Collectors of the Delta district focused only on procurement and not on the prevention of damages or the relaxation of moisture conditions. The farmers had already raised issues like transportation delay, bribery damage due to rains and gunny bag shortage well in advance, but nothing was sorted out, they complained.