With basmati prices touching ₹4,000 per quintal, paddy growers in Haryana are hoping to reap a rich harvest this kharif season.
Usually, quick-maturing varieties of paddy fetch around ₹2,500 per quintal, but this year long-grained varieties are being sold for up to ₹4,000 in some mandis.
An agent, Rishi Kumar of Taraori Grain Market, Karnal, says, “Pusa 1509 is being sold for around ₹4,000 to private players. Traders are showing a good interest in the harvest as paddy from Uttar Pradesh is being sold immediately.”
Praveen Kumar, a commission agent at Nilokheri Grain Market, Karnal, however, said that farmers from Uttar Pardesh had benefitted the most from the increase in price as there were no restrictions over sowing paddy before June 15. “Paddy will start arriving from Haryana in September, but farmers from UP are already selling Pusa 1509 in mandis located along the border,” Kumar said.
A farmer, Vishvash Kumar of Aghyana village, Saharanpur, said, “I sold 50 quintals of paddy for ₹3,871 per quintal at the Karnal Grain Market.”
On the reason for paddy fetching good prices at the mandi, Sohan Lal, a commission agent from the Ladwa Grain Market in Kurukshetra district, said, “There is a demand for aromatic long-grained rice in the Middle East. It is estimated that premium basmati varieties of Pusa 1121, CSR 30, Sharbati and Moochal will be sold for around ₹3,500 a quintal during the peak season. Another reason for traders purchasing early maturing varieties is that there has been a decline in the area under basmati cultivation this year.”
{{/usCountry}}On the reason for paddy fetching good prices at the mandi, Sohan Lal, a commission agent from the Ladwa Grain Market in Kurukshetra district, said, “There is a demand for aromatic long-grained rice in the Middle East. It is estimated that premium basmati varieties of Pusa 1121, CSR 30, Sharbati and Moochal will be sold for around ₹3,500 a quintal during the peak season. Another reason for traders purchasing early maturing varieties is that there has been a decline in the area under basmati cultivation this year.”
{{/usCountry}}State agriculture department officials say that due to unstable prices, the area under basmati cultivation keeps fluctuating. “For the last two years, the area under basmati cultivation has been decreasing. It has come down to 19.5 lakh acres last year from 22.75 lakh acres in 2019,” an official, who did not wish to be named, said.