Paddy cultivators in the Upper Kuttanad belt are reportedly faced with serious financial crisis due to the government’s failure to disburse the price of the paddy procured from them.
The paddy harvest in this part of the State began in the first week of March. Though the government had started procuring threshed paddy from the peasants from March first week itself, promising to give them its price in the next 10 days, the farmers have not yet received the money.
Now, the farmers have to prepare the water-rich fields for the next crop. Financial crisis has left many of them a dejected lot. Many small-scale farmers begin cultivation with the seed money borrowed from moneylenders or private financial institutions.
They have to repay the amount immediately after the harvest. The reasonable procurement price fixed by the State government was a great relief to them. But, what worries them is the inordinate delay in disbursing the price of the paddy procured from them.
The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) had procured as much as 73,445 quintal of paddy from the Upper Kuttanad reaches of Peringara, Niranom, Kadapra, Nedumpram, Kuttoor, and parts of the Thiruvalla municipality at a rate of Rs.19 a kg.
Peringara panchayat president Sam Eapen told The Hindu that the pending arrears to farmers alone was Rs.13,95,45,500. The government had promised the farmers that the paddy procurement price would be remitted directly to their respective savings bank account. But, no money transfer had been made as on Friday, said Kochumon, a peasant from Peringara.
Many debt-ridden farmers are seriously thinking of even discontinuing with the paddy farming due to absence of effective governmental support.
