Comments
For years now, Mr Saiful Mondal of Burdwan has been content growing high yielding plainer rice varieties such as Swarna and MTU 1010.
This year, he will try his hands in growing premium Gobinda Bhog in parts of his seven-acre holding.
Lack of remunerative price for plainer qualities, has seen several farmers in Burdwan – the rice bowl of the State – experiment with low-yield paddy varieties such as Banskati, Sonam, Miniket and others, selling at a premium in the open market.
Consumed by the upwardly mobile urban population; premium quality rice is retailed at Rs 35 and above as against Rs 23-25 for the plainer varieties, in the cities.
Bracing open market
Mr Saiful was peruaded by a section of rice mill owners to follow the uncharted territories. These mill owners were trying to find a solution to a grappling liquidity crisis impacting the interest of all concerned.
The crisis was a result of State diktat asking mill owners to procure common paddy varieties at MSP (minimum support price). In the absence of commensurating State procurement of rice at MSP, mills are thrown to the vagaries of open market.
The end result is farmers are either asked to offload crop at a lower price or end with unsold harvest.
Sensitising farmers
In Golsi, Burdwan, its rice mill association is conducting seminars to educate farmers and offering seeds of premium varieties.
The association has distributed 15 tonnes of ‘sonam’ seeds to farmers in close to 140 villages in Golsi, this season.
As against the MSP of Rs 10.80 a kg for high yielding varieties, farmers get nearly Rs 15 a kg for superior paddy in the open market and bring home a net gain of 15-16 per cent.
For rice mills, the gain is more in terms of faster movement of stock.
Flip-side
When compared to a 40 per cent margin pocketed by the trade (over and above the selling price of rice at mill end) from end consumer and the higher risk of crop loss in producing such varieties; the game is not adequately balanced in favour of the farmer.
Premium paddy plants grow at a height of nearly 6 ft, nearly double the height of common weather-resistant varieties, making it more susceptible to strong winds and weather risks, a farmer points out.
Meanwhile, the State Agriculture Department is working on a project to develop better seeds for such varieties. The aim is to reduce weather risk and improve yield.
“Research is on to have premium categories through a hybrid between the premium and high-yielding varieties,” Mr Paritosh Bhattacharya, Additional Director of the Department told Business Line .
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.