Chennai: Due to unseasonal rains, ready-to-harvest samba crops in the Cauvery delta have been submerged. Keeping this in mind, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide appropriate relaxations in the rules of paddy procurement.
In this regard, Chief Minister Stalin has said in a letter written to Prime Minister Modi yesterday. Due to unseasonal rains in Tamil Nadu, samba crops ready for harvesting in the Cauvery delta have been submerged in water. I request them to provide appropriate relaxations in the rules of paddy procurement in order to reduce the effects caused by this.
4.19 lakh hectares
Irrigation canals in the Cauvery delta areas were quickly drained. Water from Mettur Dam was released early for irrigation. Farmers were also provided with television sets. Due to these measures of the Tamil Nadu government, the paddy cultivation area has increased and a record of 4.19 lakh hectares has been cultivated during the short season.
16.43 lakh hectares of samba and Navari are cultivated in the state. By the time harvest was ready in February, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Pudukottai districts received unseasonal rains. As a result, preliminary estimates indicate that one lakh hectares of crops have been submerged in water.
We are making all necessary efforts to drain the standing water in the fields and resume harvesting operations.
In this case, due to continuous heavy rains, the moisture level in the harvested grain will be very high, farmers have expressed concern. During the Kuruvai season in the past, the central government had allowed moisture relaxation in paddy procurement on the request of the state procurement agency, Tamil Nadu Commodity Trading Corporation, under the decentralized procurement scheme.
Similarly, as the season is now unseasonal and rainy, a similar relaxation in procurement moisture is required. Through that, paddy procurement can be carried out smoothly. Therefore, the Tamil Nadu Consumer Goods Marketing Corporation should allow the procurement of paddy with moisture content up to 22 percent from the farmers. The minimum limit for immature, shriveled paddy should be relaxed from 3 per cent to 5 per cent and for damaged, discolored and sprouted paddy from 5 per cent to 7 per cent. This has been emphasized by Chief Minister Stalin in the letter.
