Paddy crops spread over one lakh hectares in the Cauvery delta region that were ready for harvest have submerged following unseasonal rainfall, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, February 5. CM Stalin urged the Prime Minister to relax paddy procurement norms including stipulations on moisture content. “When paddy is all set for harvest this month, heavy unseasonal rains in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Pudukkottai districts have inundated the standing crop covering one lakh hectares as per the state government's preliminary assessment”, Stalin said in a letter to Modi.
“Though all efforts are on to drain the water, we are concerned that the moisture content in the harvested grain is likely to be much higher due to the exposure to heavy rains. The heavy unseasonal rainfall necessitates relaxations in procurement norms, a mitigation measure”, the Chief Minister said. During similar instances in the past, the Union government had accorded permission for relaxing norms on moisture content for paddy procurement based on the request of Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC), the state procurement agency under the decentralised procurement scheme.
The current situation due to this spell of unseasonal rains warranted a similar relaxation now, so that the procurement can be smoothly completed, the Chief Minister said. "Hence, I request you to issue necessary instructions to allow the TNCSC to procure paddy from farmers with moisture content up to 22% and for relaxation in the minimum limit of immature, shrunken and shrivelled up to 5% (as against 3%) and damaged, discoloured and sprouted up to 7% (as against 5%) with necessary value cut for this paddy crop also," CM Stalin requested PM Modi.
Earlier, the Chief Minister said appropriate action would be taken on providing relief to farmers of the Cauvery delta region after looking into inputs from a panel of ministers and officials that studied damage to crops due to unseasonal rains. To improve the area under paddy cultivation, Stalin said the state government has taken various steps such as early desilting of irrigation channels in the Cauvery delta areas, release of water from the Mettur dam much ahead of schedule and distribution of Kuruvai package for the farmers. The Kuruvai package, among other aspects, also covers distribution of subsidised fertilisers.
Due to these initiatives, Tamil Nadu was able to cultivate a record area of 4.19 lakh hectares during the Kuruvai season and 16.43 lakh hectares had been brought under the Samba/Navarai crop, the Chief Minister has said.
On February 3, President of Tamil Nadu All Farmers Associations' Coordination Committee PR Pandian visited the affected paddy fields in the Cauvery delta region and requested the state government to ensure compensation was provided commensurate with the losses. Around five lakh acres of paddy crop, ready for harvest, was damaged due to the unseasonal rainfall, the farmers' leader had said.