Date:13/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/13/stories/2007121359290100.htm

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Incentive of Rs. 50 a quintal for paddy

T. Ramakrishnan

Procurement prices for Grade ‘A’ and common varieties will be Rs. 825, Rs. 795

CHENNAI: The State Government on Wednesday announced an incentive of Rs. 50 a quintal for procurement of paddy, in addition to the minimum support price and bonus fixed by the Union Government.

As a result, the procurement prices per quintal for paddy of Grade ‘A’ and common varieties will be Rs. 825 and Rs. 795 respectively. The move will entail an additional expenditure of Rs. 82.5 crore to the State Government.

The announcement is in response to appeals of farmers that the rate determined by the Union Government for paddy is not adequate, according to an official release.

[The paddy procured from farmers is hulled and the resultant rice is allotted for supply under the public distribution system. During the samba season in 2006-2007, the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation procured about 14.9 lakh tonnes till the end of March.]

Ever since the Centre declared in June that the minimum support prices per quintal would be Rs. 645 and Rs. 675 for common and Grade ‘A’ varieties, the farmers, particularly from southern States, had been agitating.

The release said that after the Chief Minister took up the matter with the Union Minister for Food and Agriculture, the Centre came forward to grant the incentive of Rs. 50 a quintal.

Meanwhile, the Union Government fixed the procurement price of Rs. 1,000 a quintal for wheat. As the cultivation cost for paddy was higher than that of wheat, the State Government took up the issue with the Centre again.

About a month ago, the Centre announced an additional bonus of Rs. 50 a quintal for paddy for the current season.

Even after this, the farmers, according to the release, felt that the procurement price was not adequate. Responding to the farmers’ demand for a higher price, the Chief Minister had taken the decision, after discussing the issue with senior government officials.

Welcoming the State Government’s decision, S. Ranganathan, general secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association said this satisfied the farmers’ concerns as they expected the Union Government to fix the procurement price at least at Rs. 900 a quintal.

“At the same time, we should also know how difficult it will be for the State Government to bear an additional burden, particularly when the Government is implementing the scheme of providing rice at Rs. 2 a kg,” he said.