Harvest turns headache as millers, farmers lock horns over deductions

As the harvest season — one that promised comparatively better yields — edges towards its close, a fresh wave of uncertainty is sweeping through paddy fields, leaving farmers grappling with a frustrating procurement bottleneck.

Disputes over the contentious ‘deduction for expected loss’ between farmers and rice millers have brought procurement to a near standstill, with harvested paddy lying stranded across fields in several pockets. As per official estimates, around 30,000 acres spread across 380 paddy fields were cultivated during the second crop season. Of this, paddy from 22,445 acres has already been allocated to rice millers, with procurement formally underway.