HYDERABAD: Despite the availability of water and 24x7 power supply, paddy cultivation has come down in Telangana from 52 lakh acres in the last yasangi to 35 lakh acres in the current crop season.
This is the first time that the paddy sown area has decreased in the state since its formation in 2014 and has come against the backdrop of a bitter battle between chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS government in the state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre over procurement of paddy and boiled rice.
It was only in June last year that KCR had announced that Telangana was on its way to becoming the rice bowl of India due to irrigation water being supplied round the year, 24x7 power supply, farmers being given Rs 10,000 per annum towards Rythu Bandhu scheme among other farmer-friendly initiatives of the TRS government.
The main reason for the decline in paddy sowing area is that the state government had told farmers that they would be sowing paddy at their own risk as it would not procure yasangi paddy due to the Centre having refused to purchase boiled rice from Telangana. The paddy of yasangi is fit to be milled as boiled rice.
Agriculture commissioner and secretary M Raghunandan Rao confirmed to TOI that farmers have sown paddy in about 35 lakh acres compared to 52 lakh acres in the last yasangi.
Stating that 70-80 lakh metric tonnes of paddy is expected from yasangi crop, Telangana Rythu Sangham vice-president Bonthala Chandra Reddy demanded that either the state or central government or both purchase it from the farmers to ensure they get the minimum support price (MSP) or else they might be exploited by merchants and rice millers.
Important among the reasons being attributed for decline in the paddy sowing area by the farmers welfare associations are the clarity with which the state government told farmers it would not procure yasangi paddy, seeds were not easily accessible due to the government monitoring and farmers feared that they might not get MSP from private merchants.
Sources said despite all these factors, the paddy sowing area at 35 lakh acres is much more than what the state government had expected. Also, farmers did not shift to alternate crops on a large scale as the increase in sowing area of groundnuts, pulses, oil seeds among other crops although being significant, did not fill up the gap of 17 lakh acres.
Officials said a majority of the farmers who had an understanding with rice millers and seed companies have taken up paddy cultivation. Also, there could be a section of farmers who might have decided to sell it at a lower price in the open market.
The state government procures paddy from the farmers, which in turn is purchased by the Centre through FCI in the form of rice from Telangana. However, this time the Centre said it would not purchase boiled rice as the country has sufficient stocks of it. The Centre again reiterated its stand on Friday on boiled rice. However, the central officials told Telangana that they would take a couple of lakh tonnes or a little more of coarse variety of fortified rice.
