Karimnagar: Farmers are not showing interest in good quality rice

Karimnagar: Despite the government’s announcement of Rs 500 bonus on premium quality rice from Vanakalam season, farmers are not showing any interest in sowing premium quality rice. Although there is a huge demand for premium quality rice in the market, farmers are staying away from this crop due to several reasons. According to agriculture department officials, about 20 to 30 percent of farmers will cultivate premium quality. There is no change in this at present. The main reasons for farmers not coming forward to sow premium quality are high investment, low yield and risk of infection and pests. Apart from this, it requires more maintenance as compared to normal variety. About Rs 30,000 is sufficient for normal variety cultivation in one acre of land, including ploughing, weeding, spraying of pesticides and labour. Whereas Rs 35,000 is required for premium quality cultivation. Farmers also have to spray pesticides two to three times, as it is easily infected by pests. For this purpose, farmers have to spend Rs 5,000 extra as compared to normal variety, while pesticides worth Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 are required for normal variety crop. While 30 to 35 sacks of yield can be expected from normal variety paddy, only 30 sacks of yield can be expected from premium variety.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Muthya Narasaiah, a farmer from Chenjerla, said that premium variety cultivation involves more risk. The Rs 500 bonus announced by the state government is not enough as the crop will easily get infected by pests. Also, less yield will be produced. In the last Yasangi season, he cultivated Basmati variety paddy on his three acres of land. However, he could not get any profit due to the fall in yield due to unseasonal rains and pest attack, Narasaiah said. In some areas, farmers are showing interest in premium varieties. Some farmers in Karimnagar rural mandal from Cherlabuthakur, Chamanapalli, Erukulla, Mugadumpur, Gopalpur, Elabotharam and Jubileenagar are in favour of the premium variety crop. Thimmapur mandal agriculture officer Surendra said that every season 20 to 30 per cent of farmers grow premium variety crop. He said that there has been no change in this figure so far, but he believes that farmers may opt for this crop as some of the premium paddy seeds will be grown only after July 15. Jai Shri Ram, BPT, RNR, Telangana Sona, Kaveri are being cultivated in Telangana.