Telangana: Delay in procurement forces farmers to sell paddy for less than MSP

Farmers in several districts of Telangana have been waiting for days, exposed to heat and rain, at the procurement centres with their paddy harvest.

Paddy farmers in several parts of Telangana, who have been badly hit by inclement weather this year, are once again on an agitation path against the state government over the delay in procurement of their produce. They are demanding that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) deliver on his promise that the Telangana government would purchase every last quintal of paddy, including rain damaged crops, from the farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 2,060 per quintal. In March this year, the CM toured several districts to assess the damage caused by unseasonable rains and hailstorms. He then announced compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre to the farmers, including the tenant farmers.

On May 27, a few farmers from Narsapur in Medak district blocked roads to protest the delay in procurement and the other problems they are facing with the owners of rice mills. The situation went out of hand after the farmers and commuters got into an argument over clearing the path. The local police had to intervene to pacify the groups and disperse the protesters. In another incident, a farmer from Jagityal district protested by dumping his produce in front of the residence of Koppula Eshwar, the local MLA of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party and Minister of Social Welfare on Saturday, June 4. Protests over the delays have been reported in Sangareddy and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri districts as well. These incidents have been causing severe embarrassment to the government.

To understand the scale of the issue, TNM spoke to B Mallesh, a farmer from Nalgonda district in Telangana, who took 500 bags of his produce to the nearby Paddy Procurement Centre (PPC) set up by the state government. For nearly 25 days since then, the 33-year-old went back to the centre everyday to stand in the sweltering heat, waiting for the officials to procure the paddy from him. Finally, vexed by the inordinate delay and worried that his produce would get damaged in the heat, he sold 400 of his bags to a private rice mill owner on June 4 at Rs 1,700 per quintal, much less than the minimum support price (MSP) announced this year which is Rs 2,060.

"All of my sealed bags were prepared to be delivered to the government-identified rice mill, but there was no update from the PPC on when they would buy the paddy. The centre manager simply said that my turn as per the token number hadn't come. But how long would I have to wait under this suffocating heat at this centre, which does not even have the minimum facilities for the farmers? At the temperature of 45 °C, our paddy will also be damaged," said Mallesh, further pointing out that he could be working and making Rs 500 per day during the time he wastes waiting outside the centre. Besides, unlike the government procurement process, he received the payment immediately from the private mill owner, he added.

The government's paddy procurement process usually begins with the farmers harvesting their crop and transporting it to the PPCs established by the Civil Supplies Department. There is one PPC each for every three or four villages. At the centre, the farmers receive a token with a serial number, using which they can weigh their produce, test the moisture content, and pack it in gunny bags, before shipping it to the government identified rice mill. The shipping process is authorised by the Joint Collector, and contractors are hired to transport the paddy.

The rice mill then retests the moisture content and deducts the estimated weight of moisture from the total weight of the paddy. The rate of moisture permitted for raw rice is around 17%. Under normal circumstances, the mill owners are expected to extract at least 68% of rice from the paddy after processing. But during years such as the present one, the crops are saturated with moisture because of the unseasonable rains. This has put added pressure on not just the farmers but also the mill owners who have to produce 68% rice from the paddy despite the high wastage caused by the moisture and husk.

M Shankar, a 25-year-old from Dandepally mandal in Mancherial district, told TNM that for the past 20 days his family members have been visiting the PPC everyday. The family has rented four tarpaulin sheets to protect the crop from heat and rain. "We produced 288 bags or 72 quintals of paddy. Porters charge Rs 40 per quintal, the tarpaulin sheets need to be hired, the lorry driver charges Rs 2 or 3 per bag. The mill owner will reduce the weight if the moisture is not 17-18%. If the produce is lying at the PPC for more than 20 days, then the quality of the paddy depreciates," Shankar said. He added that there is a logistics problem and that there are less tippers to carry the load.

V Banesh, in-charge of the PPC centre at Mamidipally, told TNM, "Godowns are already full, and the nearby rice mills are refusing the produce because they must deliver milled rice at 67-68% to the government."

According to Ravi Kanneganti of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, the government creates confusion by not explicitly announcing the date of opening the procurement and the date of closing. The farmers are informed at the local level by subtly letting them know that the process is closed. "The government usually does not announce formally that the procurement is complete; it delays things inordinately forcing the farmers to look for other buyers in the open market," Ravi told TNM.

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