The Pachamalai Organic Farmers Producers Company, which came into being in 2016 by involving about 1,000 tribes, is likely to get permission to operate and maintain a weighbridge set up at Pachamalai.
Setting up of weighbridge was a long-felt demand of tribal farmers on Pachamalai. Many said it was a 20-year-old demand. It was basically to minimise the interference of middlemen in buying tapioca. They had also put forward the demand when Collector K. Rajamani visited Pachamalai in June 2017 after assuming charge.
With his intervention, it has become a reality. The weighbridge has been set up at Topsengattupatti on a government land near the veterinary hospital on Pachamalai hills. Though it was officially inaugurated about a few weeks ago, it is still hardly used. Farmers say the usage of weighbridge will reach its peak between August and October, which is the main season for cultivating tapioca, a popular crop on Pachamalai hills.
Farmers and tribes of 52 villages in Thenpuranadu, Aththinadu and Kombai bring almost all possible piece of land under tapioca cultivation. Since the climate is considered as suitable for raising tapioca, they raise it under the rainfed cultivation method.
The company has been orally asked to operate the weighbridge, sources said. It is likely to be given formal permission in a few days to operate and maintain it. A team of representatives of the company will visit Tiruchi shortly for a meeting with the officials of Agricultural Marketing to chalk out a strategy for operating the machine. The team is expected to seek a special discount on rent for using the weighbridge.
“The machine will be fully used only during tapioca season from July to October. It will be idle in remaining months. Hence, we have decided to seek a special discount,” says B. Kannan, Director, Pachamalai Organic Farmers Producers Company.
Murugesan, chief executive officer of the company, said the machine was expected to prevent malpractices while weighing tapioca at machines owned by private traders. The rent would be nearly 50% lower than the fee charged by private traders.
A syndicate of traders have been eating into their hard-earned profit. They allege that a group of buyers have been following a dubious system of weighing tapioca with old and unchecked scales, thereby cheating the farmers.