Kerala Minister for Agriculture T. Siddique has said the United Democratic Front (UDF) government has renewed the agreement with public sector banks for paddy procurement in the State.

Addressing a ‘Meet the Press’ event organised at the Calicut Press Club here on Saturday, he said the Kerala Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) would continue to procure paddy from the growers.

The growers are given bank loans for their harvested paddy from public sector banks and paddy receipt sheets (PRS) are issued to them. Thereafter, State government repays the principal and interest to the banks. The repayment, however, often gets delayed due to various reasons. 

Mr. Siddique said that during the previous Left Democratic Front government’s tenure, paddy was procured through cooperative societies in Palakkad on an experimental basis. However, the UDF government has decided to continue the erstwhile practice of procuring it entirely through Supplyco.

Mr. Siddique said the issues related to paddy procurement had been discussed in the first Cabinet meeting of the UDF government. Thereafter, a sub-committee involving himself, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jacob, and Minister for Cooperation Minister M. Liju was formed. The committee held meeting with officials and bank representatives and decided to renew the agreement for paddy procurement with banks, which had expired on March 31.

The meeting also sought steps to complete the procurement before the onset of monsoon and the process was almost over. Steps would be taken to avoid any delay in issuing PRS, Mr. Siddique said.

The Food and Civil Supplies department would address the concerns of the growers related to moisture content in paddy, he said.

Asked about the complaints from farmers related to crop loss compensation, Mr. Siddique said the government had not been able to release the amount since 2021.

The Minister said steps were being taken to attract more women to farming.