Srikakulam: Citing moisture, millers exploit paddy farmers

Srikakulam: The millers are exploiting paddy farmers in the district by procuring excess quantity of harvest than fixed limit by saying poor quality. Farmers are inevitably accepting millers' conditions as officials concerned are remained as silent spectators. According to norms, technical staff of paddy purchasing centres (PPC) will check quality of paddy by collecting samples from farmers. Later farmers carry their produce to allotted mills. But millers are procuring about 10 kgs of paddy additionally by saying poor quality.

As per guidelines, up to 15 per cent moisture and 5 per cent wastage is allowed in the paddy and miller has to pay minimum support price (MSP) fixed by government. For Grade-A quality paddy the MSP per quintal is Rs 1,888 and for normal variety Rs 1,868. While checking the paddy quality, the technical staff of PPC recording moisture content as below 15 per cent and wastage is less than 5 per cent, but millers are showing the moisture per cent as more than 21 and wastage as more than 15 per cent.

By showing these two reasons, millers are procuring more than 10 kgs on each quintal paddy. Farmers, who are unaware of technical issues, accept millers' conditions. "Millers are procuring 10 kg excess paddy on each quintal bag from us by saying poor quality," said Ch Lakshunnaidu, B Chinna Rao and G V Swamy Naidu, farmers of Ponduru, Burja and Palakonda mandals.

"We will take action against millers if any farmer registers complaint with regard to violations," district manager for civil supplies department A Krishna Rao told The Hans India.