Call off ‘privatisation’ of paddy procurement: farmers’ association

The Cauvery Vivasayigal Sangam has exhorted the Tamil Nadu government to call off “privatisation” of paddy procurement.

A resolution passed at a meeting held at Mannargudi on Saturday, May 24, demanded revival of the old system of paddy procurement through direct purchase centres of Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation throughout the State, like in the delta region.

The government should ensure disbursal of sale proceeds to farmers who had measured the paddy to the private agency with whom the responsibility of procuring paddy on behalf of the government was entrusted during the current season.

It also demanded compensation from the Disaster Relief Fund for losses suffered by farmers who took up cultivation of alternate crop during the current summer as the crops were affected in the recent unexpected heavy rain. The compensation should be in addition to the insurance compensation to be extended to farmers who had insured their crops.

Urging the government to ensure that the benefits of ‘kuruvai package’ was extended to all farmers, the association sought the implementation of the incentive scheme executed by Telangana and Puducherry governments under which ₹15,000 per acre per year was extended to farmers.

Reiterating the demand of ₹3,500 per quintal for paddy and ₹5,000 per metric tonne for sugarcane, the association called on the Union Government to initiate talks with Reserve Bank of India to relax the fresh conditions laid down for gold loans, in favour of the farming community. Of late, every year, the farming community was struggling to repay the gold loans in full in view of unpredictable climatic conditions that affected the harvest.