Though paddy collection from the registered farmers of the district through societies has ended here, still about 19,000 farmers couldn’t sell their produce. The left-out farmers were experiencing distress sale.
While the Government rate is Rs 1,868 per quintal for the paddy meeting FAQ standard, reports said that farmers who couldn’t dispose of their paddy were selling the same paddy at the rate of Rs 1,200- Rs 1,300 finding no other means.
For the Kharif crop procurement, while as many as 78,833 farmers have registered their names, the Government has purchased paddy of nearly 22 lakh quintals from around 60,000 farmers. As a result, over 18,800 farmers were left out.
While the procurement target was about 20 lakh quintals, the district authorities had sent a proposal to procure 22 lakh quintals to the Government and later sent another proposal for procurement of additional 6-7 quintals.
However, they are yet to get any fresh order for another round of procurement.
The deprived paddy cultivators meanwhile approached all concerned including the Civil Supply Officer, district Collector, DRCS etc and staged protests in various forms, yet they were still left high and dry as the procurement period was over.
Under the circumstances, the local middlemen in connivance with the outsiders were allegedly procuring paddy at a less price by Rs 500-Rs 600 than the MSP.