Telangana : Paddy glut: Farmers told to take harvest holiday
The Nalgonda district administration faces challenges managing the influx of paddy at purchase centers amid a record harvest of 5.2 lakh acres. Farmers, fearing crop damage from rain, are rushing to sell produce, causing bottlenecks at mills. Officials have urged delayed harvesting, but farmers oppose the move, citing risks to their crops. Over 1,00,869 MT of coarse rice has been procured so far.
NALGONDA: The district administration, which finds it difficult to deal with a glut of paddy supply at the purchase centres, is persuading farmers to put off harvesting operations for some time. This season, Nalgonda district has seen an abundant yield of paddy due to heavy rains and plentiful availability of water in the Nagarjunasagar reservoir. Paddy was cultivated in a record 5.2 lakh acres.
But most of the farmers are selling fine rice to millers while choosing to dispose of coarse variety at IKP centres. Consequently, every day rice mills in the district are seeing a heavy rush of farmers eager to sell their produce as they fear that an unexpected rain could damage the grain and render it unfit for sale.
Unable to deal with the rush, the millers in Miryalaguda have given a representation to the collector urging him to advise the farmers to take one-day break from harvesting paddy in a week. In response to this, agriculture officials have instructed their staff to stop harvesting under the Nagarjunasagar ayacut for a few days and ensure pressure on millers comes down. However, this decision of the officials has not gone down well with the farmers who fear that any delay in harvesting could cause damage to their crop in case of rain or fog.
Anjaiah, a farmer from Haliya mandal, alleged that at one stage the authorities tried to delay the harvesting machines from being sent to the fields. Another farmer, Somaraju from Anumula village, wondered who would take the responsibility if their produce was damaged in case of rain if they stopped harvesting.
The District Agriculture Officer did not respond when TNIE tried to contact him on phone regarding the harvest holiday.
Meanwhile, the district administration has opened 266 paddy purchase centres to buy coarse rice and 80 for fine rice. About 1,00,869 MT of coarse rice, 623 MT of fine rice have been purchased till date.
District administration targets to buy 4,70,000 MTs of coarse rice and 2,80,000 fine variety.
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Source Link : The New Indian Express
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