‘Govt. may consider exporting the commodity to other countries’
The Federation of South India Rice Millers’ Associations has urged the State and Central governments to come up with an amicable resolution to the stalemate over procurement of paddy in Telangana.
The Federation lamented that farmers and millers are being thrown into problems as the Central and State governments have not convened a meeting to discuss the issue of procurement of boiled rice and raw rice. The State government on its part did not make arrangements for procurement of paddy in spite of assuring farmers that it is committed to purchase the entire produce from them.
Federation president T. Devender Reddy said that the government’s ‘inaction’ into the issue was throwing farmers into a crisis. While there were problems relating to availability of gunny bags, hamalis, transportation of the produce and other logistics, millers were facing problems as the government did not expedite procurement of paddy.
He wanted the Centre and State not to delay procurement of paddy as it could lead to severe hardship to farmers. Recalling that the Centre declined to procure the paddy as there was no demand from other States, he said the government could consider exporting the commodity to other countries. Millers were prepared to take the responsibility of the export provided the government gave relevant permits to them.
He stressed the need for putting in place a mechanism where farmers could directly sell their produce to millers. Promoting export of paddy, the government could simultaneously operate the ITP and PACS institutions for procurement of the commodity. He urged the Centre to examine the issue positively in the interests of farmers and consumers and requested the State and Central governments to find an acceptable solution to end the impasse.
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