When bumper crop comes a cropper

Paddy ryots staring at losses, thanks to TNCSC’s poor planning, rain, new central norms shortage of storage space

- N RAMESH MOHAMED SALAHUDEEN B Thanjavur/Nagapattinam

A bumper paddy crop coupled with poor planning by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) and new union food ministry norms for blending fortified rice has slowed paddy procurement across the delta districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai. As rains lash the region, farmers who are forced to store their harvest in the open near DPCs face mounting losses. Even as political leaders like Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin and opposition leader Edappadi K Palaniswami trade barbs, farmers remain a worried lot.

Waiting with his 500 bags of paddy harvested on nine acres, P Meikkappan of Kakkaraikkottai got a nod from the DPC in his village on Saturday for procurement of his produce.

"Of the total bags, more than 15 had sprouted due to rainwater seeping around the heap of the paddy covered with tarpaulin sheet," said Meikkappan.

V Manimaran of Sethurayankudikadu lost 20 out of 100 bags of paddy due to rain in a two-week-long wait. "Till Saturday I did not get the token to sell the paddy," he lamented.

Besides the loss of produce, farmers also had to pay for upkeep of paddy by employing at least three labourers a day.

"The loss due to the wait and resulting damage due to rain will be around one-fifth of the revenue I had expected," said Meikappan.

With the timely release of water from Mettur, kuruvai crop was raised in 2.28 lakh hectares in the four delta districts this year,. This is the highest coverage in the last 60 years and around 60% jump compared to last year.