The Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Protection Association has exhorted the Tamil Nadu government to impress upon the Central government to issue necessary orders for procurement of paddy with a moisture content of upto 25% as early as possible, taking into consideration the climatic conditions in which paddy procurement is being carried out in the State.
In a statement issued here on Saturday, association secretary Sundara Vimalanathan said the kuruvai crop, ready for harvest, was severely affected due to the recent heavy rain that lashed the delta districts. As a result, the moisture content in the paddy brought to the direct procurement centres was more than the stipulated percentage of 17.
Hence, he called upon the Tamil Nadu government to take up the issue with the Centre and persist on the latter to issue necessary orders ensuring procurement of paddy with moisture content of up to 25%. The grains should be procured without any restrictions on existence of foreign particles, black grains etc. and most importantly with out any price cut for quality of the grains.
Regretting that paddy grain dryer machines were available only in a few DPCs out of around 200 centres opened in each delta district, he sought installation of dryers at all DPCs.
