State's paddy procurement triples, says TN Minister Sakkarapani

CHENNAI: State Food and Civil Supplies Department Minister R Sakkarapani revealed that the paddy procurement by the department has increased by three times during the present year, so much so that the procurement centres are struggling to find trucks to transport paddy.

While responding to a question in the State Assembly on Thursday, Sakkarapani said that the government released water from Mettur dam on time for Kuruvai cultivation in the Delta district.

"Due to this, the total paddy cultivated land increased to 6.13 lakh acres in the delta districts during the present year from 3.05 lakh acres. Moreover, procurement has commenced from September 1 despite the usual practice being to start procurement in October," he added.

He further explained that up to October 2024, the procurement centres across the state received only 3.30 lakh tonnes. But, during the same period current year, the centres procured 9.02 lakh tonnes of paddy from more than 1 lakh farmers.

Acknowledging that the department could not send the procured paddy for milling, Sakkarapani explained that the union government has mandated mixing of 1 per cent fortified rice.

"We have issued a work order for 34,000 tonnes of fortified rice. The union government has to provide a quality certificate. Once the certificate is received, paddy in the procurement centres will be sent for milling and mixed with fortified rice," he added.

To address the lack of vehicles to transport paddy to mills, the government has requested the Indian Railways to allocate 2 wagons in addition to the already allocated 4 wagons. "Due to the influx of large quantities of paddy, there is a shortage of loadmen at the centres. We have employed workers from other states," he said.