Farmers in the delta districts of Tamil Nadu are worried about the damage caused by rain, there is a delay in the purchase of paddy.

Chennai, Oct 23 (IANS) Senior leaders of both the ruling DMK and opposition AIADMK have visited the delta districts to assess the impact of the northeast monsoon, but the widespread distress among farmers in the Cauvery region continues to grow.

The twin crises of paddy procurement delays and heavy rains have left thousands of tonnes of harvested Kuruvai crops damaged or at risk of rotting.

Opposition leader and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami visited several districts in the delta region on Wednesday, interacting with farmers and inspecting rain-soaked stacks of paddy outside direct procurement centers (DPCs).

Meanwhile, Food and Civil Supplies Minister R. Sakkarpani held meetings with district officials to review the procurement and storage arrangements, assuring that immediate steps were being taken to expedite offtake and milling. However, farmer unions said the government’s response came too late to prevent losses.

PR Pandian, chairman of the coordination committee of all farmers’ unions in Tamil Nadu, called the situation “a historic setback”, blaming poor planning and coordination in procurement operations.

“This year, more than 6.31 lakh acres of land was cultivated under Kuruvai, yielding about 13 lakh metric tonnes of paddy,” Pandian said. “But so far, only about six lakh tonnes have been procured, about four lakh tonnes have been lost to rain. Two lakh tonnes are yet to be harvested. The sacks of paddy have been lying in front of the DPC for several days, now drenched due to incessant rains.”

In Nagapattinam district, where over 1.1 lakh acres of land was cultivated – the highest in recent years due to continuous water release in Mettur – farmers said the rains had completely dashed hopes of a good harvest.

Kaveri S., General Secretary of Kaveri Farmers Protection Association. Dhanapalan said: “The kuruvai crop this season was excellent, but incessant rains have caused damage to flowers and the samba crop has also been affected. More than 60 per cent of the kuruvai has been harvested, but most of it is drenched outside the DPC.”

Farmers said the DPCs were operating far beyond capacity, with each designed to hold about 3,000 bags but now storing more than 10,000.

Limited storage space, transportation bottlenecks and slow movement of stocks to rice mills have worsened the situation. “There is confusion over milling orders, shortage of loaders and lack of coordination between agencies,” Dhanapalan said. “Barely one-tenth of the paddy coming to the DPC is being procured. The rest is being left to spoil in the rains,” he said.

–IANS

AL/DPB