A large number of farmers in Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts claim that they were unable to harvest the crop due to non-availability of harvesting machines. Some others allege that delay in opening of (DPC) direct procurement centres has forced them to stock the harvested paddy in the open.
Farmers say that paddy ready for harvest still remains on several thousands of acres of farms in Tiruvarur and Thanjaur districts as the number of harvesting machines available was inadequate to meet the demand for such machines.
Claiming that harvesting has been hit due to non-availability of harvesting machines, Kaliyamoorthy of Thenodacheri and Raj of Kaanur in Tiruvarur district, said that unable to bear the weight of the grains, the crop had lodged at several places which might result in lesser yield.
Further, farmers were forced to shell out more to hire machines from private parties as they were demanding not less than ₹1,000 in addition to the charges fixed by the District Administration, they added.
Expressing anguish over the situation, S. Sundaram of Maharajapuram in Thanjavur district said that though some of the farmers were even ready to pay higher charges to engage harvester machines, the shortage of machines has left them high and dry. The officials should chalk out some plan to help ryots facing this piquant situation, he demanded.
Pointing out that most of the harvester machine service providers in the delta region were not the real owners of the machines, Thanjavur District Cauvery Farmers Protection Association secretary S.Vimalanathan said the government officials should come out with a plan to eliminate the middlemen and help farmers establish a direct link with the original owners of these machines who are residents of other districts in Tamil Nadu and from borders areas in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
As a long-term measure, the government should come forward to extend subsidies to farmers for purchasing hand held harvesters or mini-harvesters as in the past when officials had motivated the farmers to purchase nursery planting and thrashing machines through subsidy, said Mr. Sundaram.
Meanwhile, a group of ryots led by R. Senthilkumar, secretary, Ammapettai Union, CPI staged a road roko on the Thanjavur-Nagapattinam Road at Pallavaroyan Pettai alleging that paddy had not been procured for the past 15-days at the Pallavaroyan Pettai DPC.
They raised slogans condemning the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation for not procuring the paddy harvested by the ryots. They had also alleged that the farmers were being turned away by the DPC staff at several places citing various reasons though adequate gunny bags were available at the centres.