Marketing hassles: Kalahandi farmers suffer

Expressbuzz, Oct 27, 2010
BHAWANIPATNA: The ripe paddy is all set for harvest next month. The farmers of Kalahandi, however, sway between hope and despair with marketing hassles being their biggest worry.


It has been targeted to procure 3.20 lakh MT rice from farmers during the current kharif season despite an erratic monsoon leaving non-irrigated pockets struggling to meet their water needs and pests affecting crops in irrigated pockets.

To ensure a free and fair procurement, a meeting of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies was convened by the district administration and the district-level procurement committee yesterday to chalk out strategies.

It was decided that State agencies like Orissa Civil Supplies Corporation, NAFED, MARKFED and TDCC will be entrusted with the job of procurement. Of them, OCSC will procure about one-third through Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies.

Eligible rice mills will lift the stocks from the societies as custom millers under the Corporation. It has been decided that rice mill owners who had delivered 80 per cent of the stocks lifted by them by October 25 last year or caused 100 per cent delivery by October 30 will be considered for procurement.

It was revealed in the meeting that of more than 100 rice mills till now only 54 have been found eligible while the rest are defaulters. To counter bogus entries of farmers, special care will be taken and identity cards will be issued basing on land records.

Platforms for drying up paddy and storage units at procurement points will be created. The Agriculture Cooperative Societies have been directed to ensure construction of platforms from the commission amount received last year.

The meeting, chaired by Kalahandi Collector Rupa Mishra, was attended by Supply and Revenue officials, representatives of cooperative societies, farmer and miller representatives.

However, farmers are apprehensive that due to crop infection and pests in many areas, particularly in irrigated pockets, there may be a problem in ensuring FAQ variety of paddy.

The farmers also alleged that they had suffered losses last year during kharif procurement season for lack of storage in the service cooperative societies and delay in lifting of stocks from the societies by the custom millers. They wanted the issue to be sorted out failing which the farmers will continue to suffer.