Chennai, Aug 22 (IANS): The Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu where Samba paddy is cultivated extensively will soon have 100 Direct Procurement Centres (DPC).

The farmers are preparing the fields and ploughing has been done and the water from Vaiga is expected soon.

It may be noted that August-September is the major sowing season for Samba paddy in Ramanathapuram and around 1.3 lakh hectares of agricultural lands would be used up for farming in the district this year.

The IMD has also predicted good rainfall this monsoon season and the district agriculture department has taken steps to establish 100 direct procurement centres.

There were major issues in paddy storage during last year and the district agriculture department is in the process of preparing five storage facilities each with capacity of 20,000 MT each.

Officials of the Ramanathapuram district agriculture department told IANS that two such storage facilities have already been set up and the remaining three would be set up soon. The department has also arranged 2500 MT of Urea in both private and government storage facilities for the farmers.

According to sources in the agricultural department, traditional paddy varieties will be cultivated in 1000 hectares of land.