Jammu Farmers Expect Bumper Paddy Crop After FCI’s Record Rice Procurement Last Year
Jammu expects a bumper paddy crop as FCI expands procurement to 27 mandis after purchasing 4.98 lakh quintals last year. However, GI-tagged Basmati faces uncertainty as farmers depend on millers offering lower prices, potentially reducing Basmati cultivation and pushing retail prices higher.
Jammu: Following record rice procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), farmers and the Agriculture Department in Jammu are expecting a bumper paddy crop this year. However, the Geographical Indication (GI) tagged Basmati rice is facing uncertainty.
This is because rice is being procured directly by the FCI from farmers while Basmati is routed through various mill owners, where the farmers do not get the desired price.
The FCI along with the Department of Agriculture is establishing 27 Mandis at different places to procure the rice.
Talking to ETV Bharat, Director Agriculture Jammu Anil Gupta said that last year they had established 23 Mandis in different areas in which a record 4.98 lakh quintals of rice was procured by FCI.
“The farmers got around Rs 112 crore from that procurement which was a record earning. This time we are establishing 27 such Mandis with the help of FCI and have requested establishment of two more such Mandis so that farmers get easy access to these markets and sell their produce,” Gupta said.
Jammu region has around 112 lakh hectares of paddy land out of which on around 60000 land, Basmati rice is cultivated. The FCI procures only rice directly from farmers through these Mandis and the money is also transferred directly to the accounts of farmers without facing any delay.
As far as Basmati rice is concerned, the FCI doesn’t procure it and farmers sell the crop to various mill owners where they get lesser prices at times.
Another official of agriculture production department told ETV Bharat that last year for rice, the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) was fixed at Rs 2441 per quintal which has been fixed at Rs 2461 per quintal this year.
“After studying the market and getting the feedback from farmers on the ground, we have learnt that a few Basmati growers have also shifted to paddy because of the FCI procurement,” the official said.
“There might be less production of basmati rice this time and mill owners are already aware about this. The rate of Basmati rice in the retail market has already touched Rs 130 and if the production is low, the rate is expected to go upto Rs 150 per kilogram this time,” he added.
As per official data, around 60804 hectares of land is under Basmati cultivation in three districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua with Jammu district being the grower of GI tagged Basmati rice under One District One Product (ODOP) category. The rice is also exported to different parts of the world from here.
Meanwhile, as the overall paddy production is expecting a bumper crop, there are still few pockets where farmers fear less crop.
One such area is the Mangu Chak area near Miran Sahib, around 10 kilometers short of R.S Pura, within the vicinity of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences (SKUAST) Jammu.
Chain Dass, a former Panch or Mangu Chak village, looks worried in his paddy field hoping for a bumper crop so as to repay the Kissan Credit Card (KCC) loan to the bank.
Talking to ETV Bharat he said that last year’s floods damaged the crop and an irrigation canal to their village also got damaged.
“That time union home minister Amit Shah and J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also visited our village and assured all possible help but nothing has happened. Nobody has repaired the canal to this village and the area remained dependent on rain water. Moreover, the Jammu ring road became a cause of concern for the people as the flood water remains stagnant in the area and has no place to go,” he said.
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Source : ETV Bharat
