DPCs still remain as saviours of farmers

Direct purchase centres of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation have once again proved that they are the saviours of farmers in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts be it a normal cultivation season or not as they have almost received the entire quantity of paddy harvested during this samba/thaladi season.

Around 1000 DPCs were opened in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts during the current samba/thaladi season which was marred by unseasonal rains.

According to the Agriculture Department sources, farmers having their fields located on high terrains in these two districts such as Thirukattupalli, Nannilam and other areas were able to harvest good quality of paddy while others ended up harvesting drenched and slightly inferior quality paddy as their fields bore the brunt of nature’s fury.

The crop cutting exercises conducted at several places in these two districts indicated that the average yield was well below the normal average of 6,000 kilograms per hectare, they said.

The average yield was 3,200 kilograms per hectare in Thanjavur district. Harvesting has been completed on 1.02 lakh hectares as on February third week out of 1.36 lakh hectares on which samba/Thaladi paddy was raised in the district. The average yield in crop cutting experiments in Tiruvarur district was 2,250 kilograms per hectare. So far harvest has been completed on 1.32 lakh hectares out of 1.47 lakh hectares of cultivated area.

Though the unseasonal rains at the commencement of samba/thaladi harvesting season this year presented a grim picture with respect to the marketability of paddy with higher moisture content in the private market, official sources said the decision to allow procurement of paddy with a moisture content of about 20 per cent brought much-needed relief to the farmers.

Hence, around 4.27 lakh tonnes of paddy had been procured through 489 DPCs set up in Thanjavur district and around 3.16 lakh tonnes of paddy were sold by farmers in Tiruvarur at a similar number of DPCs set up by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation in Tiruvarur district, sources said.