Delta farmers have sought procurement of paddy at minimum support price (MSP), along with the incentive declared by the State government, from August 1.
Over the past few years, farmers have opted for kuruvai cultivation in nearly one-third of the total area in which they would normally take up samba cultivation in delta districts every year. Further, the suitable climatic conditions during preceding months of the kuruvai crop period (May to October) encouraged a section of farmers having the advantage of filter point facilities to go in for ‘summer crop’ and also to advance cultivation of the kuruvai crop as an early kuruvai crop.
But when the harvested ‘summer’ and the early kuruvai crop was brought to direct purchase centres (DPCs) during June-July, they were procured at the rate of MSP with or without the State government’s incentive declared and implemented from October 1 of the preceding year though the Central government used to declare the MSP for the forthcoming procurement season by June-July itself, they pointed out.
Referring to the tendency among a section of delta farmers to go in for summer crop or `early kuruvai ’ cultivation, the general secretary, Federation of Farmers Associations in Delta Districts, Arupathi P. Kalyanam exhorted the governments to advance the date of implementation of new MSP for kharif season, with State’s incentive, to August instead of October 1.
To achieve this, he suggested that the governments should revise the period of procurement season from August to May instead of the present October to September pattern.
Further, he had also pleaded that the State government should come to the rescue of the Delta farmers who have and have been taking up paddy cultivation under the stressed situations every year and in particular during the last two years in view of the COVID-19 pandemic situation by providing the difference in the MSP fixed by the Central government for the current year and the subsequent year of procurement as its incentive.
Generally, the Central government opts for the A2+FL+50 per cent formula to arrive at the new MSP whereas the farmers expect the revision of MSP based on the C2+50 per cent formula. Thus, the MSP for the forthcoming procurement season should be ₹2,590 per quintal calculated under the C2+50 per cent formula.
But the Central government had opted for the other formula and effected an increase of ₹72 per quintal, he pointed out and exhorted the Tamil Nadu government to declare the difference amount of ₹630 in the expected MSP as per the C2+50 per cent formula as its incentive by rounding of the difference amount to ₹650 per quintal.
