Pochampally: Relief was writ large on the face of Cheruku Galaiah, a farmer from Pochampally village. On Tuesday afternoon — exactly a month after he had brought the paddy to the procurement centre at Pochampally in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri on Oct 11 — it was finally weighed and loaded in gunny bags.
While such delays have led to a political slugfest, wherein the opposition has accused the govt of mismanagement of procurement and the latter defending the process, the cause is something more basic — rain and moisture content of paddy. Galaiah said the paddy he harvested and brought to the procurement centre on Oct 11 had 40% moisture content — way above the Food Corporation of India (FCI) norm of 17% or less. The paddy weighs more when the moisture percentage is higher and there is also a risk of grain getting damaged inside the husk, said Galaiah.
"We faced a lot of problems as there was unseasonal rain in Oct and our paddy was getting wetter," said Galaiah's wife Cheruku Pentamma.
Often farmers unwilling to wait at procurement centres are induced by traders/rice millers to sell the paddy at a much lower rate of 1,600-1,800 per quintal over its high moisture content.
Gullam Shobha, a farmer from Revanapalli in Bhuvanagiri Yadadri, said, " Congress govt should give bonus for even coarse variety of paddy. They (Congress) promised 500 bonus per quintal but did not specify if it was for fine variety or coarse. Now they are saying that the bonus is only for fine varieties."
Civil supplies commissioner DS Chauhan said, "Over 6,909 procurement centres have been opened so far. Over 88,000 farmers have already sold 6.07 lakh metric tonnes of fine and coarse variety paddy so far."