As the prices of different variety of fine paddy are expected to remain around Rs 2,000 per quintal in the forthcoming Kharif season, so the farmers interested in paddy cultivation have been advised by the agricultural scientists to select varieties of the fine paddy keeping in view the forecasted prices of the same agricultural commodity.
According to an econometric analysis conducted by the scientists of the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), the market prices of fine paddy including Pusa 1121, Panjab-1, Sarbati to name a few in Rudrapur market would remain in the range of Rs 1,800- Rs 2,000 per quintal in October, November and December 2013.
However, as the scientists have maintained, the prices of traditional basmati paddy like Tarawadi, Dehradun Basmati, Pakistani Basmati to name a few are expected to remain higher than that of the fine paddy.
Keeping in view the price factors in mind, we have advised the farmers engaged in paddy cultivation to carefully select varieties of the fine paddy considering forecasted price of fine paddy and other conditions, said Dr Anil Kumar, senior scientist of the GBPUA who was part of a team of scientists who conducted the survey of paddy prices in the Rudrapur regulated market, a major market for fine paddy in Uttarakhand.
This forecast has been made by agriculture economics scientists of the GBUPAT under a research project - National Agriculture Innovation Project (NAIP) sponsored by the World Bank, said the scientists.
One of the basic objectives of this survey is to make price forecasts well in advance of sowing of selected agricultural commodities and during harvesting so that farmers engaged in cultivations of these commodities could get proper advice in advance and get better return of their produce, Kumar further said.
It is worth mention here that India has the largest paddy cultivation area in the world and ranks second in production after China. More so, India ranks among the first top five exporters of rice and exports about 7-8 lakh tones of rise, mostly to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries, Europe, and USA.
India produces about 20.24 per cent of global rice production. The area under paddy in India was 44.10 lakh hectares and production was around 155.70 million tonnes during 2011. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Karnataka and Haryana are the major paddy-producing States in India, the scientists added.
However, with 0.3 million hectare land under paddy cultivation, Uttarakhand’s paddy production was recorded 0.58 million tonnes during 2010-11. The major paddy-producing districts in Uttarakhand are Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun and Haridwar.