The Federation of Farmers’ Associations, Mysuru, has urged the State government to open paddy procurement centres immediately with harvesting of the crop set to begin.
Even before the harvest, there are signs of a price drop. Before the prices fall further before the harvesting picks up across the State, the government should take note of the falling prices and start procuring produce from farmers setting up procurement centres.
Federation president Kurubur Shanthkumar told The Hindu that he had urged the Deputy Commissioner in Mysuru to take steps to open the procurement centre in a week. The farmers will suffer losses after having invested so much on the crop, he argued.
All these years, paddy procurement centres used to open days after the crop harvest concluded. This was resulting in a middlemen menace as they used to buy the produce at lesser prices from farmers and sell it to government-opened procurement centres for higher prices with ‘dubious’ records, he alleged.
At least from this year onwards, procurement should open well ahead of time for the benefit of growers, he said, and sought an incentive of ₹500 with the MSP of ₹1,860 per quintal.
Mr. Shanthkumar said paddy had been cultivated in about 18 lakh acres across the State this season and the harvest was almost simultaneous.
Seeing the falling prices, the government must act immediately and open the procurement.
