TIRUCHY: Mobile Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs) would be established for the samba and thalady crops and efforts would be made to achieve same quantum of procurement like that of last year, said Minister for Food and Civil Supplies R Sakkarapani in Thanjavur on Tuesday.
The tripartite meeting for the samba and thalady procurement was held in Thanjavur presided by Agriculture Minister MRK Panneerselvam and farmers from Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore took part in large numbers.
Expressing concerns about life of harvested crops, farmers appealed to the officials to move the stocks within 48 hours of procurement from the DPCs to the warehouses.
They also demanded proper and adequate space for drying the harvested paddy and allocation of at least 50 tarpaulins each to every DPC. This apart, the moisture condition should be relaxed from 17 per cent to 19 per cent. The farmers also demanded dryers and digital weighing machines in every DPC and increase the quantity of gunny bags from 40 kg to 50 kg. They also demanded a flying squad to monitor the functioning of DPCs to curb irregularities.
Responding to farmers’ demands, Food Minister R Sakkarapani said that 43.28 lakh tonne paddy was procured in 2021-22 and the quantum increased to 44.22 lakh tonne in 2022-23. In 2023-24, of the 1,875 DPCs planned, 1,493 DPCs have already started functioning.
“So far 6.08 lakh tonne paddy has been procured in Delta districts from 1.09 lakh farmers and Rs 1,200 crore has been released for 95,000 farmers from the region. Totally, Rs 1,619 crore as payment for procurement of crops has so far been released to farmers across the state,” the Minister said.
Minister also stated that though procurement was less during kuruvai season, samba procurement would be on par with the previous year in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai.
He further said that the DPCs would function on all Sundays as per the demands of the farmers.