The government will not give in to the pressure of millers who have fixed a low wholegrain recovery ratio for paddy, Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman has said.
Speaking at a conference of farmers, officials, and padasekharam committee members at Vechoor to fix the revised quality parameters, the Minister said the millers had fixed the wholegrain recovery rate at 61% while the national average was 68%.
“The government has asked them to fix it at 64%. But the millers want it to be fixed at 60 to 61%, which is not acceptable,” he said.
The Food Corporation of India would fix the State’s quota after giving weightage for the quantity procured internally, he said.
The low recovery rate would affect the State quota as well as the remuneration for the farmers.
The Minister said that in case the millers refused to procure paddy as per the parameters fixed by the government, alternative options would have to be thought about. He said the government would constitute a body consisting of the grama panchayat president concerned, paddy officer, and the agriculture officer to ascertain the quality of paddy being procured from a polder.
Millers warned of action
Mr. Thilothaman said the government would initiate disciplinary steps against millers who procured high quality paddy from the polders and furnished low quality rice to the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation.
He also said the government would consider revising the daily wage of headload workers who carried paddy to the vehicle. “However, the government cannot entertain separate wage structure for different polders,” he said.
