The Hindu Business Line : SupplyCo begins paddy procurement in six Kerala districts

The mills are concentrated in the six districts in the south and central Kerala. So supply of `kuthari' to the northern districts would not be economical due to high transportation cost.

Paddy being packaged at a field in Thrissur. The Civil Supplies Corporation has made arrangements for procuring paddy at Rs 7 a kg from panchayats in Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Pathanamthitta districts, where harvesting is over. - K.K. Mustafah

Kochi , Feb. 12

THE Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (SupplyCo) has started procurement of paddy from February 3, as the harvesting of the current season crop has just begun, from farmers who have registered with the corporation.

The Supplyco has already procured 1,690 quintals of paddy from farmers in Kottayam district, Mr Adoor Prakash, the State Food and Civil Supplies Minister, told Business Line. He said the corporation had signed agreement with 19 mills in the State for milling the paddy.

The corporation is ready to procure the entire paddy produced in the State this year at Rs 7 a kg and payment would be made directly to the farmers' bank account by cheque. "Thus, there would be no middlemen and, hence, the farmers will get the full benefit of the procurement," he pointed out.

He said offers from farmers in the major paddy growing districts of Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Alapuzha and Pathanamthitta had been received.

The mills will collect paddy from the farmers and receipt would be issued with signatures of both the representative of the mill and the grower. The latter will have to submit the receipt along with 100-gram sample of paddy to the Paddy Marketing Officer in the SupplyCo regional office in the area for payment, he said.

The mills are concentrated in the six districts in the south and central Kerala. So supply of `kuthari' to the northern districts would not be economical due to high transportation cost, the Minister pointed out.

He said there would be sufficient funds available for procuring the paddy as the SupplyCo has already made arrangements with the banks.

The corporation had procured 1.14 lakh tonnes (lt) of paddy valued at Rs 79.80 crore from the farmers and co-operative societies during the previous two seasons and around 70 per cent of it was milled and the rice was distributed through the PDS to the beneficiaries in the districts of Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam, Alapuzha, Pathanamthitta and Quilon, he said.

When the paddy is procured at Rs 7 a kg the cost per kg of rice comes to around Rs 10.50. The Centre would provide MSP of Rs 5.60 a kg in addition to other overhead expenses such as transportation cost, he said. Hence, the State Government has to bear the difference in cost. The total liability on this account of the State came to an estimated Rs 15 crore, he said.

`Kuthari' is sold through the PDS at Rs 6.20 a kg to people below poverty line (BPL) while under Anthyodaya Anna Yojana at Rs 3 a kg. Under Annapoorna, 10 kg of rice is distributed free, he said.

To extend this facility to other parts of the State paddy cultivation has to be increased in other districts also.

According to him, at present, 50,000 tonnes of rice per month is required for distribution through the PDS in the State and, hence, the production of paddy has to be multiplied several-fold, he said. The state requires 6 lt of rice for distribution through the PDS while an equal quantity or more is sold in the open market. Thus, the total demand could be estimated at around 12 lt per annum. As against this the State produces only around 4 lt.

In the absence of remunerative prices the farmers had given up cultivation of paddy in the State for the past several years. However, indications are there that they are now encouraged by the procurement, as the price of Rs 7 per kg offered now by the Government is good when compared with that of Rs 5 - 5.50 offered in the past, he said.

"If the growers were motivated to take up its cultivation on an economy scale by bringing in more areas under crop besides giving them an assurance that the entire produce would be procured by an agency, rice production in the State could be increased," Mr Prakash added.