Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 1: The untimely rainfall induced by a low pressure area over south Bay of Bengal, turned out to be a major concern for paddy farmers on the first day of the new year, with the lack of storage facilities in the state prompting the distress sale of paddy by the farmers.
The state Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) alerted all district collectors and farmers to ensure the safe storage of paddy in view of the rain that continued to lash most parts of the state Thursday. Several farmers who were unable to shift their paddy were distressed even as the rest of the state rang in the new year with gay abandon.
Inadequate storage facility has remained a perennial problem in the state, while the lack of tarpaulin and polythene sheets to cover paddy during this unseasonal rainfall added to plight of paddy harvesters.
In a few districts, including Ganjam, paddy procurement was halted from Tuesday following the direction of the government, sources in the food supplies department said. This has led to distress sale of paddy at many places.
The government had instructed the regulated marketing committees (RMC) to supply polythene sheets to primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) to cover paddy bags lying in the open in mandis, sources said. Most of the procurement is done though the PACS.
However, as there is no provision to supply polythene sheets to individual farmers to cover their produce lying in the threshing yards after crop cutting, some farmers have suffered, sources said.
Earlier the government had decided to resume the paddy procurement process from January 2, said the sources. However, as the met officials Thursday predicted that rain and thundershowers will continue for the next 48 hours in most of part of the state, the chances of resuming paddy procurement has remained uncertain.
“The decision to stall the procurement process is intended to help farmers and millers who might face trouble during the transport of grain from the mandis because of the rain,” said a senior official from the food supplies department. “The government is trying is best to help out farmers,” he said.
Several farmers’ organizations have demanded that polythene sheets be supplied to every farmer to cover their produce.
