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Firm demand from Bangladesh and other markets in South India for Bengal’s premium variety of aromatic rice — Gobindobhog — is driving prices northwards. The price of Gobindobhog paddy is up by nearly 17 per cent at ₹3,500 a quintal this year, as compared with ₹3,000 a quintal in the same period last year.
Gobindobhog is a non-Basmati type indigenous aromatic rice from West Bengal. The paddy variety, which got the GI (Geographical Indication) status in August 2017, is primarily cultivated in East Burdwan district in the Raina 1, Raina 2 and Khandaghosh blocks.
According to Suraj Agarwal, CEO, Tirupati Agri Trade, the price of Gobindobhog rice is up by nearly 9 per cent at ₹5,100 a quintal, as compared with ₹4,700 a quintal in the same period last year.
“The price was ruling at around ₹4,500 a quintal at the millers’ end at the beginning of this season in January. Then it suddenly witnessed a spike and increased to ₹5,100 a quintal by end February due to heavy demand from Bangladesh,” Agarwal told BusinessLine .
Spurt in demand
There was a sudden demand for around 10,000 tonnes of Gobindobhog rice from Bangladesh this year, market sources said. Tirupati Agri, which markets the rice under the ‘Rice Villa’ brand, has exported close to 550 tonnes of Gobindobhog so far during this season. It had exported around 1,000 tonnes the whole of last year. The company exports to Bangladesh and West Asia.
Apart from Bangladesh, there has been a steady rise in demand from Kerala and other markets in South India, said Tamal Mal, Director of Greenstarline Udyog, manufacturer, trader and exporter of different varieties of rice from Bengal.
Better prospects
The increase in prices is despite the fact that the State witnessed a 17 per cent rise in production of Gobindobhog paddy this year. West Bengal produced close to 2.8 lakh tonnes of Gobindobhog paddy in 2018-19, as compared to 2.4 lakh tonnes produced in 2017-18. Nearly 55-56 per cent of this is converted to rice.
Driven by the prospect of earning more, farmers in Bengal have taken to cultivating Gobindobhog. The area under cultivation, which was close to 35 hectares in 2016-17, has increased to 51 hectares in 2018-19.
Farmers cultivating this variety stand to earn ₹2,000 a bag (of 60 kg) or close to ₹3,300 a quintal, as compared with ₹800-900 a bag (of 60 kg) or ₹1,500 a quintal for the common Swarna variety.
As compared to 12-13 bags (of 60 kg) of Swarna on every bigha of land, farmers get about 10 bags of Gobindobhog on each bigha. The cultivation cost per bigha for Swarna is close to ₹6,000-7,000 while that for Gobindobhog is ₹9,000-10,000. However, the lower yield and higher expense is more than offset by the remunerative price that Gobindobhog fetches.
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