Punjab, one of the major rice-growing states of India, is witnessing the paddy procurement crisis during this kharif marketing season. This comes even as the paddy is being sown in an area of 32.49 lakh hectares, which is the highest area under cultivation in the past couple of decades.
Reason behind the Paddy Procurement Crisis
The reason behind this crisis is that rice millers have announced that they will not mill the hybrid varieties of paddy. Earlier this week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court repealed the state government’s ban on hybrid varieties.
Moreover, Punjab Rice Industry Association (PRIA) Vice President Ranjit Singh Jossan stated that the farmers would be hit as rice millers will not mill the hybrid varieties. “Why should we suffer?. The outturn ratio of paddy is 66 per cent, but the broken rice in hybrid varieties is 43 to 45 per cent. Therefore, millers have to buy rice from the market at their own cost and give the 66 per cent milled rice to the government,” he said. Adding that last year, his association, PRIA, with the support of the state government, demanded that the Central government test hybrid paddy at IIT Kharagpur physically. The IIT teams processed the samples at three rice mills and prepared the reports, but they were not made public despite repeated requests.
Rice Millers welcomed the decision last year
Last year, after a month-long standoff among farmers, the government and the rice industry, the millers had agreed to mill the hybrid paddy varieties after reducing the purchase price paid to farmers. These price cuts were introduced to compensate for the spoilage rates that were reported around 45 to 50 per cent.