The government’s decision to purchase paddy driers on a war-footing will only drain the exchequer further and hardly help farmers, as most of them in the Krishna Western Delta have completed harvesting. Further, paddy drier is used only for mechanical harvesting, while most farmers in KWD still depend on conventional harvesting methods.
Paddy driers are used immediately after harvest, and with most farmers still uncomfortable with the dynamics of the machine, paddy driers, which have been procured from Ambala, could just end up being unused. Paddy driers are used to suck moisture content, which usually ranges from 20-26 per cent.
The Agriculture Department offers 75 per cent subsidy on poly drier, which costs Rs.16 lakh each. Farmers who have formed Joint Liability Groups (JLG) are eligible for availing the subsidy. While each drier costs Rs.16 lakh, farmers’ group can buy the drier by just paying Rs. 4 lakh, and the rest is subsidised.
The department has placed poly driers on the premises of Agricultural Market Committee offices, but farmers say that they are not interested.
“What is the use of a poly drier when we have completed the harvest? Instead of subsiding paddy driers, the government could have subsidised steam mills,” rued a farmer from Pedaravuru village in Tenali, Kavuri Satyanarayana.
Cheaper rates
With harvested paddy piled up on farm fields, farmers were being forced to sell paddy at cheaper rates.
“The prices of paddy are disappointing this year, with a 75-kg bag hardly fetching Rs.1,200. We have no time for paddy drier. We have decided to sell paddy in spite of losses. On an average, the loss could be about Rs.10,000 per acre,” said Nutalapati Kesava Rao, a paddy farmer from Perukalapudi village in Duggirala mandal.
Most farmers in Krishna Western Delta have completed harvesting and hardly 20-30 per cent of them depend on mechanical harvesting.
Most farmers in the Krishna Western Delta have completed harvesting of paddy
