The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation has opened 379 Direct Purchase Centres (DPCs) in the district and procured 66,234 tonnes of paddy, said M. Thangavel, District Revenue Officer, here on Thursday.
Presiding over the monthly farmers' grievances day meeting at the Collectorate, Mr. Thangavel said mobile procurement units are reaching out to farmers having 300 bags of paddy and purchasing them at their doorsteps.
He said 139 tonnes of black gram seeds have been distributed to farmers for raising rice as fallow crop. About 65 tonnes of black gram seeds are available with the agriculture department.
Farmers demanded that adequate money be given to DPCs to procure all the paddy brought by farmers in a day. Paddy brought by private parties from other districts and states should not be purchased in the DPCs. Paddy seeds at subsidised rates should be supplied to farmers for raising summer crop. The government should fix Rs. 1,500 per quintal of paddy. They complained that only three harvesters are available with the agriculture department.
T.Thyagarajan, Senior Regional Manager, TNCSC; and Govindasamy, Joint Director of Agriculture (in charge), participated.
