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Price guarantee for Punjab basmati growers soon
Bhagwant Mann govt is planning to fix the support price of aromatic paddy variety between ₹2,600 to 2,800 per quintal for the upcoming season
Chandigarh: The Punjab government is planning to fix the support price of aromatic paddy variety between ₹2,600 to 2,800 per quintal for the upcoming season. The sowing of the premium grain variety is set to start in July.
The move will help stablilise the aromatic paddy prices, especially in the wake of absence of minimum support price (MSP). The government, currently, offers MSP for coarse varieties of paddy and wheat.
The aromatic paddy is harvested in October-November months. The basmati growers sell the aromatic grain in open market and big export houses buy the produce. The rate offered on the grain depends on the international trade dynamics, often leading to fluctuation in the prices. Punjab contributes 40% of grain towards ₹12,000-crore basmati export from India.
Last year, the premium grain prices touched ₹3,500 per quintal. However, there have been seasons when the rate was merely ₹1,800 per quintal. “We are motivating farmers to grow basmati and also offering them the price support,” said a top official in the agriculture department.
“The proposal is to make Markfed (state supply and marketing body in the cooperative sector) as the agency to support the crop by making timely price interventions,” said director agriculture Gurvinder Singh, adding that the state government is expected to make a formal announcement in this regard shortly.
New target: To increase area under crop by 33%
The agriculture department has proposed to increase the area under the aromatic crop by 33% in the upcoming season.
“Paddy is sown over 30 lakh hectares and if we are able to bring 20% (6 lakh hectares) under basmati, it will be a step towards diversification and ensure conservation of groundwater,” said the director agriculture, adding that ‘kisan mitra’ recruited by the department will provide full support to the farmers to achieve this target.
He said the ‘kisan mitra’ will also educate farmer on judicious use of agro-chemicals on the premium crop, so that grain fulfill the import norms. “We will monitor use of 65 agro-chemical compounds on the crop,” he added.
