Here is a good news for the cultivators of Sona Masoori and other grade ‘A’ variety of paddy in the state.
The state government has decided to purchase super fine variety of paddy for Rs 1,500 per quintal as against the Central government’s fixed MSP of Rs 1,280 per quintal, from the ensuing kharif season, which commences on October 1.
Disclosing this to mediapersons here on Saturday, civil supplies minister D Sridhar Babu said that the decision was taken to encourage the farmers to take up cultivation of grade ‘A’ variety of paddy.
A total of 112 lakh metric tonnes of paddy (all varieties) was required to meet the demand in the state, of which, 56 lakh metric tonnes is the demand for the preferred variety. However, supply is far less than the demand. Last year, the total production of grade ‘A’ variety of paddy was 38 lakh metric tonnes.
‘’We want to bridge that gap and encourage the farmers to take up cultivation of the preferred variates of rice, such as Sona Masoori, Samba Masoori, Vijaya Masoori, Tella Masoori, Gidda Masoori, Molagokulu among others,’’ he said while pointing out that there is not much difference in the minimum support price of common variety and grade ‘A’ variety of paddy.
Recently, the Central government had increased the MSP of common variety from Rs 1,080 to Rs 1,250 per quintal, while grade ‘A’ variety was increased to Rs 1,280 from the existing Rs 1,110 per quintal.
Civil supplies department will open procurement counters for purchasing the finer variety of paddy and is also contemplating to open counters for sale of super fine rice after milling the paddy. The minister opined the decision to pay Rs 220 more than the MSP for encouraging farmers will also be a bargaining point for the farmers.