Thousands of bags of paddy that had been harvested during the Rabi season are still lying in the open outside procurement centres in Subarnapur district. Seedlings have come out in hundreds of packets after the recent rains.“The Government had opened a procurement centre here.
However, it was closed before any paddy was procured at all. The millers also did not buy from us this time. As you can see, seedlings have come up on the paddy. Now, nobody is going to buy this from us. I don’t know how will I pay back my loans, run my family and arrange money to buy seed for the Kharif season,” rued Deba Pradhan, a farmer who had brought his harvest to the procurement centre.
“They called us to bring our paddy here for procurement. We rented vehicles to bring them here. Now, they are telling us that the procurement had stopped. Our harvest kept lying out in the open and turned seedling. I am worried about the payments I have to make and don’t know what do I do with this paddy,” said Balaram Kanhar, another farmer.The farmers have not been paid for the crops. With the onset of monsoon, things can only get worse from here without the Government intervention. The district administration, however, is unrelenting for now and argues that it had completed its targeted procurement for the year.