Tamil Nadu: Shortage of sacks, space hits paddy procurement in Thanjavur

By N Ramesh

With the Kuruvai harvest in full swing across Thanjavur district, farmers are struggling to get their paddy procured as the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) faces a shortage of gunny bags and storage space.

Fearing losses from the intermittent rains, they have urged the government to expedite the procurement process. This year, Kuruvai cultivation has expanded to 79,000 hectares, a sharp rise from last year’s 61,800 hectares.

So far, harvesting has been completed in over 49,000 hectares, with the average yield touching 5,700 kg per hectare, up from last year’s 4,850 kg. The higher yield has led to heavy arrivals at Direct Paddy Procurement Centres (DPCs) across the district. However, farmers complain that the pace of procurement has not kept up.

“We are forced to keep our harvested paddy on the roadside as the DPCs are full. If it rains, we will lose everything,” said G Srinivasan of Ganapathy Agraharam village. R Sukumaran from Orthanadu urged the supply of sufficient gunny bags to resume stalled procurement.

“Due to lack of storage space, many DPCs have stopped receiving paddy. The paddy lying outside gets wet in the rain, so the moisture limit for procurement should be relaxed to 17% to 20%,” said Sami Natarajan, State General Secretary of a farmers’ association.

According to TNCSC officials, 287 DPCs are functioning in Thanjavur district. Till October 4, about 71,500 tonnes of paddy had been procured, of which 38,500 tonnes were transported to other districts and private rice mills for hulling. “The ground stock remains around 38,500 tonnes, besides 1.5 lakh tonnes of summer paddy still in storage,” an official said.

To ease the bottleneck, TNCSC is preparing Cover and Plinth (CAP) storage facilities at Naduvur, Paruthikkottai, and Munnayampatti with a total capacity of 50,000 tonnes, expected to be ready this week. Additional arrangements are being made to store paddy in the regulated market warehouses at Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Papanasam, and Orthanadu.

To tackle the gunny bag shortage, 7.5 lakh bags are being brought in from other districts. “We will complete the procurement of all paddy before Deepavali (October 20),” the official assured.

This article has been republished from The New Indian Express.