TIRUCHY: Inspecting Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs), collecting paddy samples and interacting with farmers and officials of the district administration, a four-member central team, headed by MZ Khan, the Deputy Director of the quality control cell, took note of the moisture content issue that has been bothering the farmers here for a while now.
The team visited villages such as Anbil Jengamarajapuram, Alangudi Mahajanam, Sembarai, and Thinniyam, picking up random samples of paddy from the DPCs in the respective villages. Moisture content of 17% to 20.5% was found in them, the officials observed.
When enquired about the possibility for air drying – by using tarpaulins, for instance – officials of the DPCs expressed doubts over its effectiveness. “Air drying would be of no major use due to unseasonal rains,” an agriculture department official said.
Farmers, who interacted with the team, grieved about lack of enough space to dry paddy, before requesting them to permanently fix the moisture content level to procure paddy at 22%. N Veerasekaran, a farmers leader, told TNIE, “Fixing the norm at 22% would solve the most of the issues farmers face during procurement period.” Collector M Pradeep Kumar and other agriculture officials were present.
