For the rice mills, which have permission to operate because rice is an essential commodity, shortage of labour is a challenge now.
According to K.S. Jagadeesan, advisor to the Tamil Nadu State Rice Mills’ Association, the mills face 25 % to 40 % labour shortage. Several workers have gone home because of the lockdown. Most of the mills had a large number of workers from the southern districts of the State or from north Indian States. Many of them have returned home.
Another challenge that the mills face is that the units need firewood and it came from places such as Vedaranyam, Cuddalore, and Sivaganga. For almost a week when the lockdown came into force, the mills were unable to get firewood as there were no transportation facilities. Now, that has been sorted out. Mr. Jagadeesan said the Government has supported the sector and ensured that there are no challenges in transportation.
There are, however, problems in getting adequate quantity of packing materials and the price of rice brawn, that goes into poultry feed, has dropped. The price used to be ₹12 a kg and it has fallen to nearly ₹5 a kg, he said. There are, however, no problems in getting paddy from other States, he said.
