Andhra Farmers To Be Allowed To Export Rice Till September 30

Farmers in Andhra Pradesh will reap the benefits of the governments decision to allow them to export surplus rice to areas outside the state till September 30. It has been officially stated that the decision is a temporary measure valid only till the end of the current crop year.

During the period, the government will closely monitor the price of rice within the state and in the event of an abnormal hike in prices in the domestic market, the export permission will be cancelled.

The measures have been taken in the wake of a representation moved by paddy farmers in the state, who, with their barns brimming with surplus stocks, have found themselves short of buyers. The situation has been compounded with millers not lifting stocks on a cash payment basis.

 

The one-time free export permission does not apply to rice millers, traders or middlemen and is only confined to farmers who, despite having their lands ravaged by floods and the cyclone that hit the coastal belts last year, have reaped a bumper harvest leading to the glut in the market.

According to the agriculture department, during the present crop year, rice production hovered at around 1.20 million tonnes. Of the amount, the Food Corporation of India procured 39 lakh tonnes. Further, under the state governments procurement policy, rice millers in Andhra Pradesh are entitled to export 19.5 lakh tonnes of rice outside the state after releasing an equal quantity in domestic markets.

In addition, a quota of half a million tonnes has been fixed for export outside India during the current crop year. The farmers themselves retain a part of their produce for self-consumption, which works out to around 15 lakh tonnes.

This leaves a surplus of about 20 lakh tonnes of rice this year of which the farmers have been left holding at least half the amount.Farmers who wish to export their produce need to file a self declaration before the concerned revenue divisional officer enclosing the pattadar pass book. The revenue divisional officer would then verify the details and, if satisfied, issue a permit for the movement of paddy to any place within or outside the State.

However, how far the farmers will be actually benefit from the government decision to remove the curbs on rice export, remains to be seen.

This is because, traditionally, the farmers do not have any link with the traders but depend on rice millers, since they do not have the facility to mill the paddy into rice.

The traders, who arrive from neighbouring States, on their part normally make purchases from the millers instead of individual farmers as they require only the processed rice and not paddy.

On the price front in the state which may effect the export permission, one of the reasons why, despite the bumper crop, the price of rice has not dropped in domestic markets is that most of the rice grown is not of the variety locally consumed but of the variety that is in demand in other States. For example, rice grown in the Krishna district the virtual rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh alongwith the Godavari districts is of the high yield IR-64, and the new 1001 varieties which is mostly favoured in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

For local consumption, rice traders in Vijayawada and other major towns in the belt, import rice of the swarnamasuri variety from the Guntur district and the 5293 and 2716 varieties from the Godavari districts.