Kerala: Kottayam farmers face uncertainty over delay in paddy procurement

With a delay in its procurement, uncertainty continues over the tonnes of harvested paddy heaped in the paddy fields in the padasekharam in Thiruvarppu panchayat in Kottayam district.

At the centre of this issue is the paddy harvested from the J block 9,000 padasekharam in the panchayat. The paddy is normally procured by the Supplyco through the mills. According to farmers, the mills are not ready to give the full amount of the paddy that will be procured from them.

According to Suresh VV, a farmer, the mills will pay for the paddy after deducting the price of 2kg from each quintal, which the farmers are not ready to accept. Amid this quandary, the harvested paddy was lying in heaps in the fields for over 13 days, with their quality getting further deteriorated due to the upcoming summer rains.

Paddy is cultivated in around 1,800 acres of fields here, and it is one of the biggest padasekharams in the state. Around 600 farmers depend on this paddy cultivation to earn their living.

On Friday, the farmers protested outside the office of the paddy officer. The district collector called the farmers for discussions to his office, but the talks did not yield any results, said Regina Ashraf, state president of the Paddy Farmers Protection Forum. The collector will now hold talks with the representatives of the rice mills on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the paddy officer said that the govt had nothing to do with the issue of the ‘deduction’ of 2kg. The paddy office only ensures the fair average quality of the harvested paddy, she said.

Meanwhile, opposition leader VD Satheesan visited the padasekharam and met the farmers on Friday evening. “The harvested paddy was heaped in the fields for 14 days. By demanding a deduction, the mill owners will get a huge profit. The farmers have to keep a watch on the harvested paddy round-the-clock,” he said. He also alleged corruption behind the demand for deduction. “This will be opposed at any cost,” he added. He also said that he will speak with the agricultural minister about the issue.

This article has been republished from The Times of India.