Rice exporters blame state, Centre for basmati growers’ plight

With growers in Punjab lamenting lower prices of PUSA basmati 1509 variety, rice exporters on Sunday blamed the Punjab government and the Centre for the "plight" of growers, saying they were not discouraged from plantation of the crop despite poor response from buyers.

With PUSA 1509 variety arriving in mandis of Punjab and Haryana, its prices are hovering around Rs 1,200-1,300 per quintal which is even lesser than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 1,450 per quintal for Grade-A variety, traders said. In Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the variety is <g data-gr-id="30">fetching</g> price in the range of Rs 800-1,000 a quintal, they further said.

"It is the failure of the governments both Punjab and Centre for not discouraging growers from sowing PUSA basmati 1509 variety in the state despite warning them numerous times that this variety was not acceptable to buyers," Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association, Director, Ashok Sethi said on Sunday. Sethi claimed that farmers in Punjab brought <g data-gr-id="27">uncertified</g> and unrecommended seed of short-duration 1509 variety and planted it without considering its results.

Exporters pointed out that rice millers had witnessed high broken content in 1509 variety during processing last year. Besides grain turning weak, rice of this variety became blackish, which was not acceptable to overseas buyers, they said adding that exporters and millers were unnecessarily being accused of not paying higher rates for this crop.

They claimed that PUSA 1509 variety was not suitable for plantation in Punjab and Haryana. "We had spent Rs 8-10 lakh on advertisements just to discourage farmers not to plant 1509 variety. But despite that fact this year 2 crore bags of this variety was expected to arrive in mandis in Punjab alone," he said.

A vigorous campaign was also launched this season in paddy growing areas of Punjab and Haryana, asking growers not to sow PUSA Basmati 1509 before July 15 after basmati exporters complained of high incident of broken content because of pre-mature plantation. Exporters said farmers planted <g data-gr-id="25">crop</g> before July 15 despite being told not do so.