Kuttanad misery continues as Supplyco defaults on payments

ALAPPUZHA: The second harvest season is ongoing in Kuttanad, but the farmers are dejected over not receiving the amount for the paddies provided to the government. The farmers are yet to receive Rs 200 crore; the price of paddy during the last season.

The big hindrance remains Supplyco’s failure to repay the bank loans. The loan limit was also exceeded for paddy procurement which made the banks not put cash into the accounts of the farmers.

A consortium comprising SBI and Canara Bank collects the paddy receipt sheets and sanctions the procurement price as a loan. The loan limit sanctioned by SBI is Rs 480 crores. With this limit getting exceeded, SBI stopped granting loans last week.

Supplyco handed over Rs 100 crore to the bank two days ago, but it is known that the loan will be reallocated only if another Rs 100 crore is produced within Saturday. Farmers who gave paddy to Supplyco during the first week of May were the last to receive the money. However, the story is different for farmers who handed over paddy at the end of May and June. They are now not allowed to approach banks for second-crop loans. Repayment arrears on PRS loan will affect CIBIL score. That hope was dashed with the lowering of the gold mortgage loan limit.

• This time there was a huge loss in wetland rice cultivation due to the hot weather

• There was a shortfall of 1.72 lakh metric tonnes of paddy

• It is estimated that the farmers suffered a loss of Rs 484.34 crores