Kerala - Alappuzha   

Low price hits sale of paddy

By A. Harikumar

ALAPPUZHA, MAY 18. The low price of paddy in the market has hit the sale of several thousand tons of paddy procured by Government approved agencies from Kuttanad during the last harvest season.

It is estimated that two lakh quintals of paddy lie in the temporary godowns of various agencies. The agencies which had procured paddy include primary cooperative societies and paddy marketing cooperative societies.

Purushothama Das, a leading farmer and president of a cooperative society in Kuttanad, said that wholesale buyers of paddy-who include big rice mills-have joined together and brought down the price.

The price of the paddy in the market at present is Rs. 750 a quintal, he said. Mr. Das pointed out that the agencies had procured the paddy from the market at the same price.

`The procurement agencies cannot sell the procured paddy at the present rate as they had purchased it at the same rate,' Mr. Das noted. While the primary cooperative societies procured paddy using the loan extended to them by the Alappuzha district cooperative bank, other agencies brought paddy using loans taken from various commercial banks.

It is pointed out that the agencies had incurred various expenses for storing the procured paddy. Moreover, they had to pay interest for the loans they took. Mr. Das noted that in the context it was impossible for the agencies to sell paddy at the current price as it would result in a loss to the societies.

Mr. Das pointed out that the paddy kept at the temporary godowns would be damaged if it was not sold soon. The temporary godowns would not be able to preserve paddy during the monsoon. The paddy kept at the godowns is not insured also,' he noted.

Mr. Das blamed the State Government for the present crisis. While the State Government is actively involved in the procurement of various crops through its agencies such as the Marketfed, in the case of paddy procurement, its role is confined to giving an aid of Rs. 100 per quintal of paddy procured to those agencies approved by it, he said.

Mr. Das noted that the absence of rice mills in Kuttanad was one of the reasons for the monopoly of private agencies from outside the district in the procurement.

The construction of a rice mill in the Government sector at Takazhi which started several years ago has not been completed yet, he said. According to him, middlemen who work for the private rice mills always keep the price of paddy low in Kuttanad.

The State Government should take the initiative to build pucca godowns in Kuttanad with facilities to keep the paddy safe for long periods to help the farmers, he said.

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