Thiruvananthapuram: A debate in the Assembly on delayed paddy procurement saw a curious realignment of sympathies. The LDF government, which normally positions itself as the champion of farmers, stood by mill owners. And the opposition, as is normal for any opposition, took up cudgels on behalf of paddy farmers.

The inordinate delay in lifting harvested paddy from the '9000 padasekharam' of the J-Block at Thiruvarppu panchayat in Kottayam was the immediate trigger for the adjournment motion moved by Kerala Congress (Jacob) leader Anoop Jacob in the Assembly on Monday, March 17. The delay was caused by a dispute regarding the 'procurement discount' ('kizhivu') demanded by mill owners to lift the harvested paddy; 'discount' is the quantity of paddy the farmer has to forego, or offer as free, as incentive for the mill owner to procure his paddy. 

The procurement began yesterday, on March 16, 17 days after harvest. Farmers agreed to a 2% discount. This means that if one quintal of paddy is procured, a farmer has to offer 2 kg as free ('procurement discount' of 'kizhivu') to the mill owner. Nearly 15000 quintals of paddy were lifted yesterday, and the procurement process is on. 

Right from the start of the debate, civil supplies minister G R Anil sounded supportive of mill owners and seemed to hint that the farmers were being unreasonable. "Farmers say that their paddy should be procured without any quality checks. The approach of mill owners, on the other hand, is to carry out the requisite quality checks and then, on the basis of that, demand a certain 'procurement discount'," the civil supplies minister said. 

He said the mill owners became more firm about quality checks after the High Court had increased the outturn ratio from 64.5% to 68%. Meaning, after processing, the mill owners had to return 68% of the paddy they have procured. So if they had procured 100 kg rice from farmers, they have to return 68 kg to the government. Earlier, they had to return only 64.5 kg.

"That's not all. Once the millers return the processed rice, the government conducts its own quality check before distributing it through PDS shops and paying back the millers.  As a result, mill owners now insist on quality," the minister said.

The civil supplies minister also said that the adjournment motion had no value as the procurement had already begun. 

Anoop Jacob suggested that it would be delusional for the government to consider it a triumph. "When you say that the paddy that was accumulated in '9000 padasekharam' was finally lifted, you should not forget that it was lying in the open field, exposed to the elements, for more than two weeks, for 17 days," he said.

Jacob argued that the procurement had begun by forcing the farmers to agree to a 2% 'procurement discount'. "Why was the paddy from a nearby paddy field taken without a 'procurement discount'," he asked. He said the '9000 padasekharam' never had to offer a 'procurement discount'. "And that was because the famers were confident of the quality of their paddy," he said.

"Now, with their harvest lying untouched for over 17 days, they had no choice but to submit to the pressure mounted by the mill owners," Jacob said. He said that there was a charge that there was a deliberate move to delay the procurement of paddy from this paddy block. "The Agriculture Department should launch a probe into this," Jacob said.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan was also suspicious about the delay in procurement. "Normally, this is lifted after two or three days," he said. 

The opposition leader, along with Kottayam MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, had visited the Thiruvarpu paddy field the other day. "The harvested paddy is spread all over the field. And it has been lying there for 17 days. Every day, the farmers have to manually turn the heaped-up paddy. That's additional cost. Meantime, the mill owners kept up the pressure on the farmers, demanding a 'procurement discount'. They refused to lift the paddy without the discount. What if it rains in between? The moisture content of the paddy stockpile will increase, allowing the mill owners to demand a greater discount. Finally after 17 days, that too after two days of consecutive rains, the farmers relented, agreed to let the millers take their paddy with a discount," Satheesan said.

Satheesan said that the government should not have yielded to the mill owners considering the quality of the paddy from this paddy field. "The paddy from this block is unique. This is A class paddy, it has no chaff. Never has any mill owner sought even a one percent discount for lifting paddy from this block," Satheesan said.

He said that such a demand was raised for the first time this year. "Next year it will be 3%, then it will be 4% and then 5% and 6% and on and on. This is how mill owners are fleecing Kuttanad farmers," the opposition leader said, and posed a rhetorical question: "Is it right for the government to succumb to the pressure tactics of mill owners."

Satheesan said the government facilitated the pressure tactics of mill owners. "When did you even begin discussions? Fourteen days after the harvest. All the while the paddy was left untouched and exposed, and the mill owners found the situation conducive to apply pressure n the farmers. And then it rained for two days, and the desperate farmers who somehow wanted their crop salvaged, surrendered," the opposition leader said. "If it was not taken yesterday, I am sure these poor farmers would have agreed to even a 10% 'procurement discount'," he said.

He said the government should have put its foot down when mill owners sought a discount from a paddy field that never had the need to offer mill owners an incentive.

The opposition leader also disagreed with the civil supplies minister's claim that the mill owners' insistence on quality standards was the result of the High Court's decision to increase the milling outturn ratio from 64.5% to 68%. The minister seemed to suggest that the mill owners were left with no choice.

"Why did the HC take such a decision," Satheesan asked. "Because for all other states in India, the outturn ratio was 68%. Kerala was the only state that had a lesser OTR," he said, suggesting that the HC had just taken away an unfair advantage enjoyed by Kerala's mill owners.