State government increases support for paddy, sugarcane

The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday announced an increase in the incentive price for procurement of paddy of common and grade-A varieties.

Grade-A varieties will be procured at ₹2,060 a quintal, and common varieties at ₹2,015. The government also announced the sanction of ₹150 a tonne in ‘special incentive’ to sugarcane growers.

During his speech in the Assembly, Agriculture Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam said that while the Centre had fixed ₹1,960 a quintal for grade-A varieties, and ₹1,940 a quintal for common ones, the Tamil Nadu government had increased the incentive price for paddy procurement from ₹70 to ₹100 a quintal for grade-A varieties and ₹50 to ₹75 for common varieties for 2021-22.

With the announcement, the grade-A varieties will be procured at ₹2,060 a quintal, and the common varieties at ₹2,015 a quintal. This is expected to benefit about six lakh farmers. The government will incur an additional expenditure of ₹99.38 crore.

Under the special paddy production plan, tarpaulins will be provided to farmers to reduce post-harvest losses. The scheme will be implemented on an outlay of ₹52.02 crore with Union and State government funds, he said.

Considering the welfare of sugarcane farmers, the government had decided to sanction ₹150 for one tonne of sugarcane as a “special incentive”.

It will be credited directly into the bank accounts of sugarcane farmers who supply sugarcane for the 2020-21 crushing season. “Through this, sugarcane farmers will get ₹2,900 a tonne as cane price,” Mr. Panneerselvam said. The State government has allocated ₹138.83 crore during 2021-22 for the benefit of one lakh sugarcane farmers.

The transitional production incentive for sugarcane for the 2020-21 crushing season will be paid at ₹42.5 a tonne to farmers who have supplied sugarcane to mills.

A sum of ₹40 crore has been allocated by the government for the implementation of this scheme, he said.