Odisha: Paddy crisis for farmers in Ganjam
Berhampur: Left out of the procurement process, thousands of small and marginal farmers in Ganjam district are reportedly resorting to distress sale of paddy.
Seemanchal Nahak, secretary of Rushikulya Rayat Mahasabha, said around 60,000 farmers, especially sharecroppers, are selling their paddy to traders from Andhra Pradesh. Most of these farmers are not entitled to sell their paddy in the mandis as they do not have land records and are not certified by the land owners.
He alleged that despite repeated appeals, the district administration did not take any steps to facilitate the sharecroppers to sell their paddy in the mandis.
Apart from this, due to the early harvest this year, many farmers of the district have stocked paddy. He said, since the token limit is much less than the stored paddy, farmers have no option but to sell their surplus produce to Andhra Pradesh farmers.
“Farmers are not paid the cost of transportation and bags at most paddy procurement centers (PPCs). They are even forced to pay an extra 5-7 kg per quintal of paddy. Instead of bearing these losses, many farmers are selling their produce to traders from Andhra as well,” said Nahak.
Sources said farmers are selling their paddy to AP traders at 1,470 per bag of 75 kg against the MSP of2,183 per quintal.
However, Ganjam civil supplies officer (CSO) Pushpa Munda said the administration has not yet received any allegations of distress selling by farmers. This year, 1,46,541 farmers of the district have registered to sell their paddy. So far, about 70,000 farmers have sold 30.81 lakh paddy in PPC. This year, a target has been set to purchase 45.67 lakh quintals of paddy from farmers.
Last year, paddy procurement started from December 22. Given the current pace of procurement, paddy procurement is likely to end by February, Munda said.
Meanwhile, Ganjam Collector Dibya Jyoti Parida has warned of strict action against persons demanding extra paddy from farmers at procurement centres. Parida said in an advisory that at least 100 quintals of paddy should be purchased at each PPC every day of every week. He also directed to display at the procurement centers the list of farmers to whom tokens have been issued for selling paddy.
