The farmers in Punjab have opposed the central government?s decision for not including the superior variety of paddy PUSA 1121 under basmati category whose area of cultivation they had doubled.
The Pusa 1121 variety had fetched high returns last year and farmers in the state had anticipated that Central government would include it in the basmati category, which led them to increase the area under this variety. They have opposed the decision of the central government of notifying the long-grained paddy, PUSA 1121, as non-basmati variety as it will bring down their margins.
Opposing the decision, Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of the Bharti Kisan Union (Rajewal), has said said that decision to declare PUSA 1121as non-basmati is anti-farmer.
He said he would meet Prime Minister on September 16 and submit a memorandum, asking the government to regard PUSA 1121, RH 10 and sharbati varieties as basmati and fix a separate minimum support price (MSP) for them. Experts said normal rice was sold at around 1000 per quintal and Basmati rice was priced at Rs 3500 per quintal. The PUSA 1121 variety were sold around Rs 2500 per quintal last year. All-India Rice Exporters Association have also opposed the decision.
The area under paddy cultivation in Punjab is likely to increase by 50,000-70,000 hectares against last year, on account of higher MSP proposed for the current Kharif season. PUSA variety was sowed in around 5 % of total plantation but due to the demand in middle-east this year, farmers have planted 15 % this year of this variety of total paddy plantation.
PUSA-1121 is an aromatic rice variety, which is about 120 cm tall. Having yield of 13.7 quintals per acre, it possesses extra long slender grains with good cooking quality and it has longest cooked rice length among all the aromatic rice varieties recommended for Punjab.