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Basmati growers in Punjab and Haryana say they feel let down due to the government and trade "cartels" not ensuring remunerative prices for their crop. Rice exporters on the other hand attribute low prices to hike in import duty by Iran and crop over-supply due to rise in basmati acreage.
With state government's including Punjab pitching for bringing more area under basmati crop as part of crop diversification plan, farmers, who had to spend extra buck this kharif season in the wake of drought-like conditions, complained of fetching over 30 per cent lesser prices for basmati including PUSA 1121 this season. "We are not getting adequate prices of our basmati crop. The current prices are much below what we got last year," said a basmati grower of Gurdaspur, Punjab.
"...we are being exploited by not being paid good prices of our crop," said the grower who grows both Basmati and common variety rice.
Farmers said it was commission agents, better known as Arthiyas, who deprive farmers of getting remunerative prices of their crop by forming cartels in order to earn more profit. "It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that farmers are getting their dues. But no one from the government side bothered to check exploitation of farmers at the hands of traders," said another basmati grower.
Basmati prices like PUSA 1121 which is arriving in grain markets are currently ruling at Rs 2,800-3,100 per quintal as against Rs 4,000-4,500 per quintal last season. PUSA 1121 accounts for over 70 per cent of area under basmati crop in Punjab and Haryana.
Earlier, prices of another basmati variety 1509 went down to Rs 2,100-2,200 per quintal from Rs 2,800-3,000 per quintal. Punjab and Haryana are major basmati rice producing states and contribute 70 per cent of country's premium rice variety production. Basmati rice remained an election issue in recent Haryana Assembly polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first election rally at Karnal in Haryana on October 4 had even hit out at Congress for "spreading lies", that Centre had imposed a ban on basmati rice export.
Modi had accused previous Congress government in Haryana of imposing 4 per cent tax, rendering basmati uncompetitive in the market.
Rejecting any exploitation of farmers, rice exporters said there was no exploitation of basmati growers taking place by not giving them right prices of crop.
