Telangana farmers strike gold with fine paddy!

Hyderabad: Are Telangana farmers who cultivated fine varieties of paddy on the verge of striking gold? It looks like so with traders and millers from neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu making a beeline to purchase all the fine rice varieties of paddy from Telangana farmers as these varieties are in high demand.

Even before the paddy harvest hit the market in the current Kharif season, the traders from the neighbouring states were approaching the farmers in old Karimnagar, Khammam, Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar and Nizamabad districts directly and also paying advance to buy paddy. The farmers were lured with high prices even as the government was providing a Rs 500 bonus per quintal.

Under the impact of the El Nino, the paddy cultivation in the state had come down to 56.59 lakh acres during kharif-2026 as against 67.24 lakh acres in the same season a year ago, resulting in nearly 14 per cent fall in paddy sowing area. This will lead to fall in overall paddy output.

However, the cultivation of fine varieties of paddy remained high this year too. The specific seven fine varieties of paddy- RNR 15048 (Telangana Sona), BPT 5204 (Samba Masuri), KNM 1638, KNM 7715, WGL 44 (Siddhi), HMT Sona and Jai Sriram - were cultivated widely this year as the government announced a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal for these varieties only. The officials said that the fine varieties were cultivated in around 42 lakh acres out of total 56 lakh acres and the coarse paddy varieties were sown in the remaining acres. In view of the severe irrigation crisis due to lack of water in the projects, farmers are relying on agriculture pump sets to save the crops from withering. As a result, the farmers are said to be clueless about the total yield in view of drying crops in some areas before the harvest period.

Sensing that the demand for fine variety rice will increase abnormally in the next one year, traders are eyeing to exploit the demand for high quality rice in the market. That’s the reason why traders are vying with each other to buy paddy from farmers from Telangana which happens to be the largest producer in South India of fine paddy varieties.

Normally, fine variety paddy costs Rs 3,500 a quintal. Now, the traders are said to be ready to pay Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,000 per quintal. However, it is very likely that high paddy prices will lead to sharp rise in prices of rice up to a whopping Rs 100 per kilogram in coming months.

N Raghuram, a miller and rice trader from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, said that he visited the border district of Nalgonda where the farmers were cultivating fine paddy, and paid advance to buy the harvest directly from the agriculture field in November.

It is also said that as most of the paddy harvest will hit the market towards November end or December first week in Telangana, the rice traders are blocking the supply of paddy to the market yards, which will create artificial shortages and escalate prices, benefiting them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patan Afzal Babu

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Patan Afzal Babu is an experienced journalist specializing in political and state Administration. With over 20 years of writing expertise, Afzal Babu contributes new content in the areas of politics and administration. Afzal has completed post-graduation from Hyderabad Central University (with a specialization in Journalism). Afzal Babu is an accomplished writer with a passion for writing political news and breaking news. With over 20 years of experience, Afzal honed skills in various genres, including major crime news. Afzal’s diverse family history and embracing cultures have enriched writing with unique perspectives.

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