Farmers have also started receiving payments in five days, thanks to the online procurement system.
A survey by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) said that 39% of the farmers feel that self-help groups (SHGs) involved in the procurement need better training in assessing the quality of grains. “Our suvrey has revealed that linking MGNREGS to loading and unloading work at paddy procurement centres (PPCs) and periodic training to SHG members to take a proactive role in marketing will further improve the long-term objective of decentralised procurement system,” E Revati, director of CESS, said.
More than 80% of farmers are, however, satisfied with the way procurement is being done at PPCs, mostly organised by women SHGs, the survey said. Over 29% of the total surveyed farmers complained about the lack of accuracy in measurement of moisture content in paddy.
Farmers said the Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) PPCs lack facilities in transporting the paddy to the millers. Over 81% of the farmers said they have to wait due to inadequate availability of lorries. Most of the PPCs are located away from the village and nearly 60% of IKP centres do not have a proper approach road, much to the chagrin of the farmers.
Around 39% of the farmers also complained about lack of facilities like water, shelter and sufficient space for their produce.
