Chennai, Sep 2 : The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) will procure 'A' grade paddy at a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,450 per quintal, while common paddy will be procured at Rs 2,405 per quintal.

TNCSC officials told IANS that rice will be procured directly from the farmers by establishing Direct Procurement Centres (DPC).

It may be noted that paddy procurement in the state for Public Distribution System (PDS) has come down sharply by 9.26 lakh metric tonnes. In 2023-24, the procurement was 34.96 lakh metric tonnes while in 2022-23, it was 44.42 lakh metric tonnes.

The reduced procurement of paddy will lead to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) purchasing paddy from Telengana where there is a surplus. The FCI has to allocate 37.5 lakh metric tonnes of paddy to Tamil Nadu in 2024 under the National Food Security Act. This will lead to an increase in the expenses of FCI.

A senior official of FCI's Tamil Nadu region said, 'We will purchase the additional demand of 13-14 lakh MT of rice from Telangana, a rice-surplus state. An additional expenditure of Rs 4 per kg of rice will be incurred for transportation."

Farmers' associations of the delta districts in Tamil Nadu, including Thanjavur, attributed the reduced procurement to various factors.

K.M. Devashikamani, a farmer association leader in Thanjavur, told IANS, 'The reduced procurement is due to factors such as delayed onset of monsoon, delays in releasing water from the Mettur dam and insufficient water levels which led to a substantial reduction in the overall paddy cultivation area.'

Meanwhile, J. Radhakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary (Food and Civil Supplies), said in a statement on Monday that the procurement process aims to support small and medium-scale farmers wishing to sell their produce to the government.

He said the department cannot compel farmers to sell exclusively to the Food and Civil Supplies Department, adding that in 2024, it received paddy from the new taluks in Tiruvannamalai and other areas.

The senior official, however, said that no paddy was supplied from some taluks in the state.

It may be recalled that the government has disbursed Rs 7,983 crore in payment for procurement to 3.9 lakh farmers, with payments for the remaining 1,577 farmers being processed.

Agriculture Department officials pegged the state's annual rice production between 75 lakh MT and 80 lakh MT. TNCSC and other agencies are acquiring only a portion, while the rest is sold directly to the private mills.

As of August 31, TNCSC and its authorised agencies procured 34.96 lakh MT of paddy. This will yield approximately 23 lakh MT to 24 lakh MT of rice, which will be adjusted towards the 37.5 lakh MT that FCI is required to supply.

On an average, FCI supplies 2.9 lakh MT of rice per month to TN.

/IANS