After the initial hiccups, paddy procurement is making good progress in the district.
The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) has so far procured 10,500 tonnes of paddy from farmers in Kuttanad and other parts of the district in the additional crop (second crop) season.
“We have completed roughly 50 per cent of the procurement. Barring some minor issues, the process is going smooth,” Maya Gopalakrishnan, paddy marketing officer, Supplyco, Alappuzha said.
Earlier, mills decided to keep away from procurement after they failed to reach an agreement with the government over compensation for the procured paddy, which got destroyed in the 2018 floods. Following this, the government decided to rope in cooperative societies to procure paddy directly from farmers.
However, a lack of storage, among other facilities for cooperative societies in the district resulted in a delay in the procurement. The impasse ended after an agreement was reached between the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) and mill owners for the procurement of paddy including in Kuttanad and Palakkad in a high-level meeting last month. As per the agreement reached, mills will cooperate with the Supplyco for a period of six months.
The yield is expected to be lower this time after the August floods destroyed the additional crop in around 3,500 hectares, a majority in Kuttanad.
However, crop in around 5,300 hectares survived the floods. This was the third year in a row, Kuttanad suffered crop loss in the additional crop season.
In the last additional crop season (2019), the Supplyco procured 32,977 tonnes of paddy from Alappuzha, while procurement in the 2019-20 'puncha' (first) crop season stood at 1.75 lakh tonnes. Meanwhile, farmers have started preparing fields for the upcoming 'puncha' season. Several farmers complained that the seeds provided by the government were not germinating.
