The ineffective management of paddy procurement by district administration continued to haunt the farmers as they were forced to stay in government-setup paddy procurement centres in Nalgonda district for nearly a month to sell their produce. Over 50 per cent of the farmers were forced to sell their produce to millers at much less than MSP.
Of the 10 lakh tonnes of yield the district expected to get during the Rabi, the farmers have sold 7.26 lakh metric tonnes so far, but as many as 3.15 metric tonnes of paddy was purchased by the millers at mill points because most of the farmers went to the rice mills directly to sell their produce due to inordinate delay at the government procurement agencies.
The Hindu has visited various IKP procurement centres at Sandenapalli, Tatikal and other villages in the district where the farmers said nearly fifty per cent of the paddy farmers in their village sold their produce directly to miller who was offering up to Rs. 150 less than MSP Rs. 1,345.
The remaining farmers who sold their produce at IKC centres were guarding their produce for up to a month as the administration has failed to expedite the procurement.
The district millers are learnt to have been delaying the unloading of the vehicles carrying the paddy procured by government agencies, but the administration has made no efforts to resolve the issue by conducting a meeting with millers and the staff concerned so far.
The intensity of the problem was such that, the market yards were closed several times due to delay in lifting the procured paddy.
Speaking to The Hindu , Anji Reddy, a farmer from Kanagal mandal, has said that they had arrived at Nalgonda market yard a week ago, but they are yet to sell their produce.
Meanwhile, the marketing officials have locked the market yard, till May 25 as there is no space in market due to delay in transporting the procured paddy to mills.
Another farmer Sudharshan has said that it was not only the failure of administration, but it appears the officials and millers have colluded to loot the farmers as it the administration has not taken any initiative to expedite the process of transportation.
However, the same millers purchase the paddy within hours when a farmer visits the mill directly at Rs 150 less than the MSP.
Due to delay in procurement, the paddy was damaged as district experienced torrential rains on May 3, 4, 8 and 19. “ Earlier we used to hear of farmers suffering loss due to standing crop damage in rains, but this time the paddy brought to the markets was damaged in great quantity, the farmer lamented.
When contacted, Assistant Civil Supplies Officer, K.Venkateshwarlu has said that the rice millers storage points were exhausted with the heavy inflow of paddy, but he had no answer why the same millers were purchasing the paddy from farmers directly.
