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PMK leader Dr Anbumani Ramadoss on Friday appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to raise the paddy procurement price to Rs 3,500 per quintal. The Centre has announced an increase of Rs 72 per quintal in the procurement price of paddy bought by government agencies nationwide.

 

“With this hike, the procurement price for ordinary variety paddy will go up to Rs 2,441 per quintal. However, farmers are demanding Rs 3,500 per quintal, and this increase is far from sufficient,” Ramadoss said in a statement issued here.

 

The former Union minister pointed out that the central government had increased the procurement price by 3 per cent (Rs 69 per quintal) last year and had repeated a similar marginal increase this year as well. “This is extremely low compared to the actual cost of paddy cultivation,” he said.

 

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He further stated that since the Centre fixes procurement prices at a low level, state governments usually provide additional incentives to offset farmers’ losses. “But during the previous five-year rule, the incentive amount linked to procurement prices was raised by only Rs 51. As a result, the effective procurement price this year did not cross Rs 2,500 per quintal,” he added.

Ramadoss noted that Odisha offers an incentive of Rs 800 per quintal, while Andhra Pradesh and Telangana provide Rs 500 each, and neighbouring Kerala grants Rs 631 per quintal. “The previous DMK government had provided Rs 500 less,” he alleged.

Arguing that increasing the procurement incentive would not place a major burden on the state exchequer, Anbumani said Tamil Nadu would need to provide an additional incentive of Rs 1,059 per quintal, which would cost around Rs 4,196 crore.

“When the Tamil Nadu government is set to present an annual budget of Rs 4.50 lakh crore, this expenditure is insignificant,” he said. He urged the state government to immediately enhance the incentive to Rs 1,059 per quintal so that farmers could receive a procurement price of Rs 3,500 per quintal.