Basmati farmers switch to PR varieties
Blurb: Area under PR varieties may increase to 70-75%
Parveen Arora
Tribune News Service
Karnal, July 13
Disappointed over not getting appropriate prices for basmati varieties in the market last season, a large number of basmati farmers have moved towards PR varieties in the district.
Karnal is mostly known for its production of basmati rice.
Some of the farmers have also switched to sugarcane in Indri, Gharaunda and Karnal blocks owing to an upgradation in the Karnal cooperative sugar mill.
As per the information gathered by The Tribune, usually area under paddy cultivation in the district remains 1.70 lakh hectares comprising 60 per cent of non-basmati and 40 per cent of basmati. But this year, the area under basmati may reduce by 10-15 per cent and the area under non-basmati varieties may increase to 70-75 per cent.
“We are getting reports from fields that farmers are inclined towards PR varieties because they give assured income to them. PR varieties are purchased by the government while the prices of basmati depend on market,” said Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA).
Around 90 per cent of paddy cultivation had been completed and the rest would be done in a couple of days, he added.
Farmers confirmed that they had switched to PR varieties as it gave them assured income.
Parveen, a farmer from Nilokheri block, who used to cultivate 20 acres of basmati, has reduced his area under basmati to five acres. He has dedicated the remaining area to the cultivation of sugarcane and PR varieties of rice. “Basmati varieties did not fetch good return in the past two seasons and that is why I have shifted to PR varieties and sugarcane. Its MSP is fixed by the government,” he added.
Sumit Choudhary, another farmer, said: “I used to cultivate a basmati variety on 15 acres of land but now I have reduced it to only two and a half acre. I have increased the area under PR varieties.”
