Date:14/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/14/stories/2009011455080600.htm

Tamil Nadu

Samba procurement in full swing

S.Vydhianathan

CHENNAI: Samba procurement has started in full swing in the Cauvery delta districts with the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) purchasing about 61,000 tonnes of paddy in the last one month.

Though samba procurement begins from December 15, procurement normally picks up only after Pongal — January 14. But this year the arrivals are of the order of about 7,000 tonnes a day from January 1 with Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts accounting for about 2,500 tonnes each. Procurement in Nagapattinam, another major delta district, is negligible at 350 tonnes.

This, according to a Corporation official, was due to damage caused to the standing paddy crop by November rains.

The official said the Corporation had fixed a target of 12 lakh tonnes in the current samba season and going by the initial trend it would be achieved. Apart from the delta districts, the corporation hopes to purchase samba paddy in non-delta districts such as Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts where the corporation would purchase paddy from the regulated markets. At present 855 direct purchase centres are functioning the delta districts which will be increased to 1,200 by this month-end when procurement will be in full swing.

Last year, the corporation procured 14.49 lakh tonnes of samba paddy.

The official said as the price offered by the Corporation is Rs 1,050 a quintal for fine varieties and Rs 1,000 a quintal for common varieties is on a par with the open market price, farmers preferred to sell their produce to the corporation.