Paddy procurement delays, monsoon rains leave delta farmers in distress

Even as leaders from both the ruling and Opposition parties toured the delta districts on Wednesday to review the impacts of North east monsoon and crop loss, farmers across the Cauvery region expressed deep distress over delayed paddy procurement, storage constraints, and the destruction of harvested Kuruvai by the rains.

Opposition leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami visited multiple delta districts to meet affected farmers and inspect damaged paddy heaps lying outside Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs), while Food and Civil Supplies Minister R. Sakkarapani reviewed the situation with district officials, assuring expedited action.

However, farmers’ organisations said official interventions have come too late. P.R. Pandian, president of the Coordination Committee of All Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu, said the government’s delayed planning and poor coordination in procurement had caused “a historic bottleneck.”

“This year, over 6.31 lakh acres of Kuruvai were cultivated, producing about 13 lakh metric tonnes of paddy. But only around 6 lakh tonnes have been procured so far, leaving nearly 4 lakh tonnes exposed to rain,” he said. “At least 2 lakh tonnes are yet to be harvested. Paddy sacks have been piling up in front of DPCs for days, and now rains have spoiled them.”

In Nagapattinam, where over 1.1 lakh acres of Kuruvai were cultivated — the highest in recent years due to surplus Mettur water — the situation is equally grim. Cauvery S. Dhanapalan, general secretary of the Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, said: “The Kuruvai crop was excellent this year, but incessant rain has hit the flowering and formation stages of samba paddy. Over 60% of Kuruvai has been harvested, but much of it now lies soaked outside procurement centres.”

Mr. Dhanapalan said most DPCs are operating far beyond capacity — each designed to store about 3,000 sacks, but now holding over 10,000. With poor logistics and limited rail movement, even procured stocks remain unmoved to mills.

“There’s confusion in milling orders, shortage of loaders, and lack of coordination. Barely one-tenth of the paddy brought to DPCs is actually procured,” added Mr. Dhanapalan.