Farmers in TN delta districts reel under rain damage, delayed paddy procurement

Chennai, Oct 23 (IANS) Even as senior leaders from both the ruling DMK and the Opposition AIADMK have toured the delta districts to assess the impact of the northeast monsoon, widespread distress among farmers continues to mount across the Cauvery region.

The twin crises of delayed paddy procurement and heavy rain have left thousands of tonnes of harvested Kuruvai crops damaged or at risk of rotting.

Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami visited several districts in the delta region on Wednesday, interacting with farmers and inspecting rain-soaked heaps of paddy stacked outside Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs).

Meanwhile, Food and Civil Supplies Minister R. Sakkarapani held meetings with district officials to review procurement and storage arrangements, assuring that urgent steps were being taken to expedite lifting and milling. However, farmers’ associations said the government’s response came too late to prevent losses.

P.R. Pandian, president of the Coordination Committee of All Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu, called the situation “a historic bottleneck”, blaming poor planning and coordination in procurement operations.

“This year, over 6.31 lakh acres were cultivated under Kuruvai, yielding nearly 13 lakh metric tonnes of paddy,” Pandian said. “But so far, only around six lakh tonnes have been procured, leaving nearly four lakh tonnes exposed to the rains. Another two lakh tonnes are yet to be harvested. Paddy bags have been lying for days in front of DPCs, now soaked by continuous rain.”

In Nagapattinam district, where over 1.1 lakh acres were cultivated -- the highest in recent years thanks to steady Mettur water release -- farmers said the rain had completely altered what was shaping up to be a good harvest.

Cauvery S. Dhanapalan, general secretary of the Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, said: “The Kuruvai crop was excellent this season, but continuous rainfall has damaged flowering and affected the samba crop too. More than 60 per cent of Kuruvai has been harvested, but much of it lies drenched outside DPCs.”

Farmers said DPCs are functioning far beyond capacity, each designed to hold about 3,000 sacks but now storing over 10,000.

Limited storage space, transport bottlenecks, and slow movement of stocks to rice mills have worsened the situation. “There’s confusion over milling orders, shortage of loaders, and lack of coordination between agencies,” said Dhanapalan. “Barely one-tenth of the paddy arriving at DPCs is being procured. The rest is being left to spoil in the rain,” he said.

--IANS

aal/dpb