Mandal-level committees led by the Tahsildar, officials from the Agriculture and the Civil Supplies departments, and comprising stakeholders from miller, farmer and cooperative societies will decide on the procurement of damaged paddy, District Collector Prashant J. Patil said on Friday.
“A full schedule to procure flood-damaged paddy, its transport and storage should be started immediately. Rice millers should also cooperate and consider farmers’ welfare in the wake of the situation,” he said.
Responding to issues submitted by millers, and instructing officials to be prepared, Mr. Patil on Friday said all the procurement process should be completed within a week.
According to officials, estimation of the crop and harvest damage across mandals was already being done. And approximately, as per latest reports, 24,000 metric tonne paddy was in soaked or wet condition.
Mr. Patil said the stocks of wet and damaged paddy should be bought from farmers, tagged to millers and transported. At the same time, he also directed officials to create awareness among farmers to sun-dry the paddy, as requested by millers to meet quality parameters, before bringing the stock to centres.
Procurement of the fine rice varieties, Mr. Patil said, will be entirely by the government and the related guidelines are yet to be finalised.
