Page 4 - Paddy

More than 250,000 quintals of paddy procured in 114 centres in Gondia

Paddy procurement is underway in only 114 out of 171 approved centres of the district marketing federation (DMF) in Maharashtra's Gondia district and more than 2.5 lakh quintals of the produce have been procured so far, an official said on Sunday. As many as 171 procurement centres have been approved under the DMF in the district, of which procurement was started at 114 centres, District Marketing Officer (DMO) Vivek Ingle said. At least 2,56,527 quintals of paddy have been procured at these centres so far, and the administration has extended the last date of registration for farmers to December 31 from the earlier November 30, while the last date for procurement is January 31, 2024, he said. Every year, the government procures paddy on MSP (minimum support price) through the DMF in non-tribal areas and the tribal development corporation in tribal areas. The MSP for the common grade of paddy was Rs 2,183 per quintal this year, Ingle said, adding that the procurement target was 27 l

Tripura to purchase 40,000 MT paddy from farmers at MSP during kharif

This paddy will be purchased from 49 paddy purchasing centres in the state. Paddy will be purchased from December 11

Paddy procurement in Himachal touches 20,993 MT, surpassing 2022's purchase

Paddy procurement in Himachal Pradesh has surpassed last year's purchase to touch 20,993 metric tonnes this year, officials said on Saturday. In comparison to the purchase of 14,000 metric tonnes of paddy last year (2022), about 20,993 metric tonnes of paddy has been purchased from 3,663 farmers in 14 markets established across the state in the current year (2023), the officials said. This year a target to procure 22 thousand metric tonnes of paddy has been set and so far farmers of the state have sold 20,993 metric tonnes of paddy worth Rs 45 crore to the government, informed Joint Director State Civil and Food Supply Corporation Ravindra Thakur. He informed that against the target of purchasing 6,250 metric tonnes (62,500 quintals) in Sirmaur district, the State Civil Supplies Corporation has already purchased about 9,000 metric tonnes. In 2022, crops across the state were ruined due to the southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) and several farmers had to destroy their

Bonus for paddy to be announced in Winter session: Maharashtra CM

Bonus for paddy will be announced in the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislature to be held in Nagpur next month, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Monday. Speaking at a 'shaasan aplya dari' programme in Bhandara, some 60 kilometres from here, Shinde said his government believed in replying to the criticism by opponents through its work. The issue of bonus for paddy farmers was also raised by Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in his address at the 'government at your doorstep' event. "The Mahayuti government will announce bonus for paddy crop in the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislature to be held in Nagpur in December," Shinde said. The state government is planning to bring about 8000 to 10,000 hectares of land under irrigation very soon, the CM added. He said the ruling alliance, comprising the Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, had won two-third of the seats in the recently held gram panchayat polls and

Wheat sowing continues to remain below par, might pick up pace after Diwali

Some traders also felt that sowing will pick up pace after Diwali and in the final analysis, the total acreage across India might be around the normal wheat acreage of around 31 million hectares

Govt's paddy procurement at MSP reaches 16.14 million tons so far

The government on Thursday said 161.47 lakh tonne of kharif paddy has been procured directly from the farmers at the support price so far, and the buying operation is progressing smoothly. Paddy procurement is undertaken by the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) along with state agencies. The agencies are procuring paddy grown in the kharif (summer) season at the minimum support price (MSP). "Up to November 1, a quantity of 161.47 lakh tonne of paddy has been procured, benefitting about 9.33 lakh farmers with MSP value of Rs 35,571.14 crore," the food ministry said in a statement. The 2023-24 kharif marketing season, which runs from October to September is "progressing smoothly," it said. The agencies procure paddy from farmers and mill it later to get it in rice form. The ministry is targeting is procure 521.27 lakh tonne of rice in the kharif marketing season, out of which 20.76 per cent (108.23 lakh tonne) has already been procured from Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

Sebi extends suspension of derivatives trade in 7 agri commodities for 1 yr

Markets regulator Sebi on Friday extended the suspension of futures and options trading in seven agricultural commodities, including wheat and moong, for one more year till December 2024 in a bid to rein in prices. The other agricultural commodities suspended by Sebi are paddy (non-basmati), chana, crude palm oil, mustard seeds and their derivatives and soya bean and its derivatives. "The suspension of trading in the above contracts has been extended for one more year beyond December 20, 2023, i.e. till December 20, 2024," Sebi said in a statement. The suspension permits squaring up of existing positions in these commodities, but no fresh futures trading is permitted for a year. To curb inflation, Sebi in December 2021 prohibited exchanges from launching new derivative contracts of soyabean, mustard seeds, chana, wheat, paddy, moong, and crude palm oil. These directions were applicable for one year. In December last year, the suspension was again extended for one more year till ..

Farm loan waivers, high MSP: How Chhattisgarh govt is banking on farmers

Chhattisgarh Assembly elections: Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has promised to waive off farmers' loan if the Congress retains power

Bumper paddy crop in Kashmir even as land under paddy cultivation falls

Kashmir has witnessed a bumper rice crop this year even after the land under paddy cultivation decreased by nearly 10 per cent over the past few years. Farmers and officials of the agriculture department were also worried about the paddy yield this year, due to incessant rains and cold weather during the sowing season in May-June this year. "In the month of March, April and May there were heavy rains because of which we were also fearing about the fate of staple food crop (paddy) but simultaneously we tried our best and also did sowing a second time," Director Agriculture Mohammad Iqbal Chaudhary said. Chaudhary said the department launched a campaign for transplanting seedlings even in June. "... more than 5 to 10 per cent extra productivity per hectare is expected as more than 90 per cent crop has already been harvested," he added. The director said the bumper crop has boosted the morale of farmers, as the rate of rice in the local market has crossed Rs 50 per kilogram. "We are

Stubble burning: Delhi govt launches drive to spray bio-decomposer

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Friday launched a drive for spraying bio-decomposer in paddy fields in the capital to prevent stubble burning. Since 2020, the Delhi government has been using Pusa bio-decomposer, a microbial solution that decomposes paddy residue in 15-20 days, to prevent stubble burning in the capital. Farm fires are a major reason behind a spike in air pollution in Delhi-NCR in October-November. The government sprayed the bio-decomposer over 4,400 acres of paddy fields last year, Rai said, adding that 5,000 acres of land will be covered this season. The minister said stubble burning is rampant in Punjab, but he hoped that the number of farm fires would come down due to the steps taken by the AAP government in the agrarian state. According to the Union environment ministry, the maximum share of farm fires in Delhi's PM2.5 pollution stood at 34 per cent on November 3 last year and 48 per cent on November 7, 2021.

PUSA 44 paddy variety to be banned from next Kharif season: Punjab CM

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said the state government has decided to ban sowing of water-guzzling PUSA-44 variety of paddy crop from the next Kharif season. After formally kick-starting the paddy procurement operations in the state from here, Mann also urged farmers to stop the practice of stubble burning. He directed the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department to ensure smooth and hassle-free procurement during the current Kharif Marketing Season beginning on October 1. "We are committed to procuring every single grain of farmers," Mann said while interacting with a group of farmers. The chief minister urged farmers to stop the cultivation of PUSA 44 variety of paddy crop as it takes more time to ripen, besides generating more crop residue. He said this season, farmers were asked not to sow the PUSA 44 variety but many growers sowed it. From the next season, PUSA 44 variety will be banned in Punjab, Mann said. It takes 152 days for ripening as ag

Paddy acreage rises by 3% to 411.52 lakh hectares, pulses area down 5%

Area under paddy has gone up nearly 3 per cent so far in the ongoing kharif sowing season to 411.52 lakh hectare, while pulses acreage declined 5 per cent, according to the agriculture ministry data. Paddy acreage stood at 400.72 lakh hectare (LH) in the same period last year. As per the data released on Friday, area under pulses declined 5 per cent to 122.57 LH from 128.49 LH in the year-ago period. Acreage of coarse cereals increased marginally to 186.07 LH from 183.73 LH. Oilseeds sowing was down at 192.91 LH as against 196.08 LH. Groundnut area dipped to 43.89 LH from 45.51 LH while the acreage of soyabean rose to 125.59 LH from 124.77 LH. The agriculture ministry data showed that area under cotton decreased to 123.42 LH from 127.57 LH. However, sugarcane area was higher at 59.91 LH as against 55.66 LH in the year-ago period. The total acreage under the ongoing kharif (summer sown) season increased to 1,102.99 LH from 1,099.23 LH. Harvesting of kharif crops generally starts

Wheat farmers lost Rs 40,000 crore due to govt policy: Icrier report

The report says that judicious use of trade policy is needed to tame inflation at home without hurting farmer earnings

Paddy area up 2.71% so far in kharif season, pulse acreage down slightly

Area sown to paddy rose 2.71 per cent to 409.41 lakh hectare so far in the current kharif season, while sowing is underway in a few places, according to agriculture ministry data released on Friday. Paddy-sowing area was 398.58 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. In the kharif season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), sowing begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June and harvesting from October. According to the data, area coverage of paddy, coarse cereals, and sugarcane remained higher as so far this kharif season from the year-ago period. Acreage of pulses, oilseeds, jute and mesta and cotton lagged behind, it showed. Coarse cereals acreage rose marginally to 183.11 lakh hectare as on September 15 as against 181.48 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. However, area sown to pulses remained lower at 121 lakh hectare so far this season, as against 127.57 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Area under oilseeds, too, remained marginally lower at 192.20 lakh hectare

Paddy acreage up nearly 4% this kharif season; pulses acreage down 8%

Area under coverage for paddy has gone up about 4 per cent so far in the ongoing kharif sowing season to 398.08 lakh hectares, while pulses acreage declined 8 per cent, according to agriculture ministry data. Paddy acreage stood at 383.79 lakh hectares (LH) in the same period last year. The area under coverage for paddy has increased in Bihar by 5 lakh hectares, Chhattisgarh (4.66 LH), Jharkhand (1.82 LH), West Bengal (1.56 LH), Madhya Pradesh (1.48 LH), Haryana (1.29 LH), Uttar Pradesh (1.21 LH), Telangana (33,000 hectares) and Punjab (31,000 hectares). Paddy acreage has declined in Karnataka by 1.67 LH and Andhra Pradesh by 1.21 LH. As per data released on Friday, the area under coverage for pulses has declined by 8 per cent to 119.09 LH from 130.13 LH in the year-ago period. The acreage of coarse cereals has increased marginally to 181.06 LH from 179.13 LH a year ago. Oilseeds sowing is also down slightly to 190.11 LH so far as against 191.91 LH. Groundnut area has dipped to

BJP MP accuses Telangana CM of planning massive paddy auction scam

He further claimed that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of maladministration and alleged him of looting the money meant for development work to increase his wealth

Area under paddy up 4.4%, pulses down 8.3% this kharif season: Govt

Area under paddy crop increased by 4.4 per cent to 384.05 lakh hectares so far in the ongoing kharif season despite a lag in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture on Friday. However, pulse acreage was down 8.30 per cent at 117.44 lakh hectares as on August 25 as against 128.07 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Tur, urad and moong acreage, too, remained lower. Kharif (summer) sowing begins with the onset of the southwest monsoon in June, while harvesting starts in October. Paddy is the main kharif crop as more than 80 per cent of the total rice production is grown during this season. "We are quite comfortable in paddy area coverage. Sowing is still underway and the window is till September 15," Agriculture Commissioner P K Singh told PTI. Paddy acreage has increased to 384.05 lakh hectares as of August 25 in the ongoing kharif season as against 367.83 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Maximum increase in paddy coverage was

Paddy sowing rises 4.3% in ongoing kharif season, shows govt data

The area under coverage for paddy has increased 4.33 per cent to 360.79 lakh hectares across the country in the ongoing kharif season as the lag in sowing narrowed in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, and Karnataka, according to official data released on Friday. Paddy, the main kharif crop, was sown in 345.79 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. About 80 per cent of the country's rice is grown during the kharif season, which is generally from June to September. As per the data from the agriculture ministry for the ongoing kharif season till August 18, paddy was sown in 24.80 lakh hectares in Odisha, 0.43 lakh hectares less that the year-ago period. Similarly, it was sown in 16.61 lakh hectares in Assam, down by 0.61 lakh hectares from the year-ago period. Paddy-sowing areas in Andhra Pradesh were at 8.29 lakh hectares till August 18, down by 1.53 lakh hectares from the same period of the previous year. However, pulse sowing was lagging behind as coverage was at 114.92 lakh hectares

Nepal requests India to supply rice, sugar to avert possible food scarcity

The Nepal government has requested India to facilitate the supply of paddy, rice and sugar, a senior official said here on Wednesday, as a precautionary measure to mitigate any possible food scarcity in the upcoming festive season. The request was made through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Indian authorities last week, Commerce and Supplies Ministry Joint Secretary Ram Chandra Tiwari said. "Nepal has requested India to provide one million tonnes of paddy, 100,000 tonnes of rice, and 50,000 tonnes of sugar," he said. Though there is no immediate shortage of rice and sugar in the market, there are rumours about its possible scarcity following India's decision to ban the export of non-basmati white rice to the international market. So as a precautionary measure, the Nepal government has asked India to supply these food items, Tiwari said. There are also concerns that traders might resort to hoarding these goods, potentially driving up prices as the festive season approaches,

Paddy acreage up 3.4% from last year, 28.30 mn hectares brought under crop

An improvement in acreage, coupled with higher stocks than the buffer norm, should help in soothing some of the concerns about rice this year