Labour, mechanisation, intermediaries, rain: Farmers in Tamil Nadu’s ‘rice bowl’ are up against a host of challenges

By Kulothungan C, Jyoti Nair

In the Cauvery Delta, farmers are already out in their fields as the sun rises, tending to their ready-to-harvest paddy crops and hoping for favourable weather.

Their aspirations depend on the post-harvest income. After navigating the various challenges during the different stages of paddy cultivation when the crop has ripened, the “process from harvest to sale is crucial,” said Rajesh, a smallholder farmer from Nidamangalam.

Paddy is the major crop in the delta. Increasing coverage of groundwater irrigation has supported farmers to grow paddy up to three times, bringing them to navigate the sale of their produce multiple times a year.

The harvest activities begin by manually cutting the crop at the long edges. It is a cultural practice to assign women labourers to perform such delicate tasks because they are considered to be meticulous. But farmers these days find it difficult to get agricultural labourers to work in the field, more so for harvesting.

The diversion of agricultural labourers, especially women, to projects under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is considered to be a primary reason for the shortage. Govindaraju from Kodavasal explained that even though several aspects of paddy cultivation are being mechanised, the demand for labour during critical stages of the production cycle is high.

However, from the perspective of the labourers, the tools used for harvesting are rusting in their houses because the introduction of machinery to harvest has reduced their roles. A decade or so ago threshing machines replaced the work of women labourers who would thresh the cut crops by beating them on the threshing floor.

Now, combined harvesters have replaced both manual harvesting and threshing. This has drastically reduced the time taken to harvest. But there is another set of challenges that have emerged.

Once the crops are cut along the edges, a combined harvester is sought. However, there is a catch. In the beginning of the season, farmers with plots away from the road have to ensure that they cultivate paddy varieties which ripen at a similar time as their neighbour’s plot, from where the harvester will run to reach their land.

It is a race among the farmers to receive the harvester to their fields on time. We met Arokiyadas, a farmer from Nidamangalam who was repeatedly calling the agent to arrange the harvester for his plot that was ready to be harvested.

For the past two days, he was after the agent to get the harvester to his field. The paddy harvesting machines come to the delta from different districts within Tamil Nadu and other states. Only a handful of farmers own these expensive combined harvesters. At the village level, a couple of well-connected individuals act as middlemen to arrange the harvesters for farmers.

The coordination of the combined harvester and tractor in the field is difficult at the time of harvest. The middlemen are paid a commission for the number of plots or hours the harvester runs.

The machine owner typically demands an advance payment, exploiting the farmers’ needs and desperation. But farmers are waiting to sell their produce to be able to pay off their dues and debts. In some instances, the harvester agent might give a small discount if the money is paid upfront.

Swaminathan from Nidamangalam, however, said that “it is difficult for them to raise money to pay the charges of the harvester upfront so the farmers borrow from money lenders in such a situation”. Once the advance is paid, the machine is brought to the field.

The time taken to harvest has reduced considerably. But the expenses are rising. A combined harvester costs Rs 2,500 or more for an hour of operation. The rental cost of a combined harvester increases with the increase in diesel rate. Typically, it takes 1.5 hours to harvest a 1-acre plot, depending on whether the field is dry or wet. Conveyor belt harvesters are sought for wet fields.

Farmers have observed that compared to the time when harvesters were first introduced in the area, the time taken to complete the harvest of one unit of land has increased. Farmers believe that the extended operation time is a deliberate tactic to charge more money. The intermediaries, who facilitate the hiring of combined harvesters, often end up with significant profits.

The hope for clear skies as the farmers step out to harvest their crops comes from the fear of potential losses due to rain. If the paddy crops get wet, they lie flat on the ground, and hybrid varieties of paddy are at risk of falling even with a short spell of rain or wind. This can result in “twice the time and cost for the harvesting machine, as well as damaged paddy in the field, making the harvesting process more time-consuming and costly,” said Rajesh. A significant amount of paddy will be damaged post-harvest, necessitating additional labour to collect the remnants.

As per the government guidelines, the paddy grain must have a moisture content below 17 per cent before it can be sold at the direct procurement centre (DPC). This requires a team of labourers (depending on the yield) to dry the paddy in the sun, a process complicated by unpredictable weather.

If rain threatens, the drying paddy must be quickly heaped up and then spread out again once the skies clear. The rainy season poses a particular challenge, as the lack of sunlight hampers the drying process.

The next step involves securing a tractor to transport the harvested paddy. During the harvest season, demand for tractors is high, making it challenging to secure one.

Tractor owners capitalise on this, demanding higher payments. This results in an additional financial strain on the farmers. The logistical challenges of coordinating both the machine and the tractor are substantial. Grains often spill on the road during transportation to the point of sale because of poor road conditions.

After hours of back-breaking work, labourers load the harvest onto a truck to take them to the DPC. In the delta districts of Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai and Nagapattinam, DPCs are functional every harvest season.

DPCs are usually set near temples where open spaces can be used to store the procured paddy. During the harvest, farmers often find themselves juggling multiple tasks. When the paddy is loaded onto a truck, they need to coordinate between harvesting machines and load the trucks simultaneously. A spell of rain can damage the paddy grains.

At the DPC, there is limited space to store the paddy, leaving farmers scrambling to find suitable places to pile up their yield. “Competition for space is fierce,” said Rajesh.

It becomes challenging to store paddy till their turn arrives. Consequently, farmers who harvest a day earlier reserve their space by placing padutha (cover) inside the DPC. Paddy cannot be stacked on the nearby road because of potential damage from passing vehicles.

To prevent further damage it is necessary to assign someone to protect the paddy. Several farmers experienced theft of their produce while waiting for their turn at DPC. This has forced farmers to sleep at the DPC at night to safeguard their hard-earned crops.Farmers encounter additional obstacles at the DPC.

Corruption is rampant, leading to delays in the procurement process. When the paddy is finally procured, it is run through a machine to remove the husk. However, improper settings cause a significant amount of paddy to be processed with the husk, reducing the overall yield available for sale. This results in a lot of paddy getting mixed with debris. The inefficiency further diminishes the quality and quantity of saleable yield.

To address this, farmers again assign labourers to manually separate the paddy from the debris. After procurement, “farmers are charged bribe per unit of bag paddy being sold to receive a receipt, eating into their already meagre profits,” said Rajesh. Farmers borrow money to cover their expenses in the meantime.

Some farmers, frustrated with the delays and bureaucracy of the DPC, choose to sell their paddy to private buyers. Private traders often buy the paddy directly from the field, thus, cutting down the transportation cost to DPC.

But these buyers frequently claim the paddy is of poor quality and pay for 2-3 kg of grains less per bag to adjust the price.

In some cases, private buyers purchase paddy at a low price from farmers and then resell it to the DPC for a substantial profit, often facilitated by bribes. The presence of middlemen in this transaction may leave the farmers with even less income for their hard work.

From the initial cutting of the crops to the final sale, every step is a battle against time, weather and bureaucracy. Despite these challenges, “farmers persevere, driven by the hope of a better future and pride in their work,” said Swaminathan.

Kulothungan C is a paddy farmer and research consultant at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru. Jyoti Nair is a Senior Research Associate at ATREE.The “Policy Learning, Local Knowledge, and Advocacy (POLKA)” project, funded under the Water and Development Partnership programme at IHE Institute of Water Education, Netherlands, aims to bridge the gap between policy and practice to promote sustainable food production and ecosystem management in sub-Saharan Africa. In India, with support from ATREE, the project has been focusing on the Cauvery Delta region in Tamil Nadu since 2022.

This article has been republished from The Down to Earth Magazine