Paddy harvest and procurement that began on a challenging note against the backdrop of the nationwide lockdown is fast progressing in the rice bowl of upper Kuttanad and other parts of the district.
The Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) has procured 6,000 tonnes of paddy from the district as on Tuesday, according to C.L. Mini, Paddy Marketing Officer. Ms. Mini told The Hindu support from the district administration and cooperation of the farming community helped Supplyco during the lockdown.
Combine harvesters
She said though there was acute shortage of combine harvesters in the district owing to the lockdown, the administration’s timely intervention preventing some Tamil contractors from taking away the machines from the fields of upper Kuttanad to their home villages in Salem turned out to be a big help to the ongoing paddy harvest.
Enthusiastic farm workers heaping the paddy harvested by combine harvesters, braving the scorching summer heat, is now a common scene in upper Kuttanad. However, the summer rain that lashed the area in the past few evenings is making them anxious.
Despite all odds, 22 combine harvesters had been pressed into service for paddy harvest in the region and nearly 60% of the harvest was completed as on Tuesday, said Sam Eapen, district panchayat member and president of the Upper Kuttanad Nelkarshaka Samiti.
In a week
Harvest is progressing fast in the paddy fields of Chathankery and Kodankery and the process in the Varalpaadom and Koorachal-Manickathady fields too will be completed in the next one week.
Ms. Mini said the paddy was being procured at a competitive rate of ₹26.95 a kg and the farmers would receive the price of the paddy procured from them in their bank account in the next one week itself.