Alappuzha: Agriculture Minister V. S. Sunil Kumar is yet to keep the promise he made last month that paddy farmers in Kuttanad will get their arrears in 10 days.
Dues from paddy procurement in the state for a year now amount to Rs194 crore, of which Rs75cr is in Alappuzha district. The delay in the payment has put hundreds of farmers preparing for the next Puncha season in trouble.
They were supposed to get 10,647 hectors of land ready for the second crop cultivation by June 15. But only 5,489 hectares were cultivated here so far. Kuttanad had a record production last season: 42,647 tonnes from 10,500 hectares.
Earlier in April, the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had promised to clear them as a Vishu Kani, beside a Rs 11 crore compensation for crop losses. James Joseph, a farmer at R Block Padasekhara Samithi, said fully subsidised seeds for farmers with below 5 acres was also due. For last two years, he got no pumping subsidy either.
Fr Thomas Peeliya-nickal, executive director of Kuttanad Development Auth-ority, said the farmers who doubled production since 2014 were not yet compensated. Some 22,000 farmers are awaiting the government decision. Joji Arupara , president, Irupathi-naalaayiram Pada-sekhara Samithy, said there was no coordination in procuring crops. “In the past, civil supplies department was handling it. But the last couple of years the system appears to have collapsed,” he said.
