HYDERABAD: The market functions well with minimal governmental interference. It happened during the last kharif season, and once again this year, the same is being proved as paddy farmers are getting a good price for their produce in the open market.
The State government is expecting a bumper paddy production in the current kharif season, and expects anywhere between 70 and 100 lakh tonnes of paddy to reach the paddy procurement centres (PPC). As of Monday, the Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd procured 47 lakh tonnes of paddy through the PPCs.
There are several reasons for paddy farmers preferring to sell their produce to millers and traders.
They are getting a better price for the fine grain varieties from the rice millers and traders, who have been directly procuring from their fields, leaving little scope for inconvenience or exploitation. The very day of the harvest, private players are procuring paddy directly from the farmers who have been cautious to not fall prey to sudden adverse weather conditions.
“For RNR 15048 (Telangana Sona), traders are offering Rs 1,950 per quintal to the farmers. Though the MSP is Rs 2,060, the farmers have the flexibility of delivering non-dried paddy to the millers, which is not accepted at the PPCs. On top of that, wastage deductions and other charges are excluded, so the farmers effectively get around Rs 2,200 per quintal. In the last couple of days the price has gone up to Rs 2,300 and Rs 2,400 per quintal,” said Venkatesh, a farmer and rice miller from Wanaparthy district.
Fine grain varieties like HMT, BPT, Jai Sri Ram, and others are in good demand in the market, and most of the paddy from Telangana is being sold by the traders and rice millers within the State for local consumption, and also in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, apart from exporting to other countries, according to Gouru Srinivas, managing director of a rice mill in Miryalaguda.
He told TNIE that in the erstwhile Nalgonda district, only 3.74 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured at the PPC till Monday as against the expected seven lakh tonnes, which meant that most of it was being sold in the private market.
However, in terms of yield and profitability, MTU 1010 coarse grain variety is still the preferred one by a majority of farmers in the State. According to Venkatesh, farmers who cultivated this variety, have reaped on an average 30 quintals per acre, which means that they are making between Rs 60,000 and Rs 65,000 per acre. After excluding the input costs of about Rs 30,000 per acre, farmers are still making a profit of Rs 30,000 per acre, he points out. In case of fine grain varieties like BPT, he says, that farmers are getting around Rs 50,000 per acre, and after deducting Rs 31,000 as input cost, they are making a profit of Rs 19,000 per acre. He said that the millers are getting more than 67 kg rice per quintal of paddy (deliverable to FCI) during the milling. In case of fine grain varieties, the yield is only 65 kg.