According to information, thousands of quintals of paddy have piled up under open sky near Mandis across the district. The situation has risen due to delay in procurement.
“We have been issued tokens. But paddy is not being procured. We have piled up paddy under the open sky and are watching them for over a month,” farmers said, adding, “We have not been provided with sacks for safekeeping of the crop.”
They expressed anguish over weight cut of 7-8kg per quintal in the name of procurement of FAQ paddy.
According to the data availed from office of the district supply department, Government has targeted to procure 52.90 lakh quintal Kharif paddy from farmers of the district this year. By now, over 46.50 lakh quintal, constituting over 86% of the target, has already been procured. As many as 76 millers have signed contracts to procure paddy from farmers across 214 Mandis. About 96,000 farmers from different blocks have registered names for selling paddy.
“We have good produce this year. But the Government has made a low target. We don’t know if our paddy will be procured,” said farmers whose paddy is yet to be procured.
They also expressed anguish stating that they are not being provided sacks even as there is such a Government provision.
“We have unsafely kept paddy in torn polythene sheets and bags due to lack of proper sacks. Coming in contact with air, colour of paddy is getting changed. But they are cutting one-two kg paddy without any reason and 5.6 kg in name of FAQ,” alleged farmers.
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