The Andhra Pradesh government?s levy wrangle with rice millers, has stirred up enough consumer heat in Kerala to bring the rice retail price to the boil by a whopping 35%. An exasperated Kerala government has, this time, put its Paddy Board act together, with the express purpose of ramping up local rice output.
?Once in 60 days, the new outfit will review paddy production growth,? says Mullakkara Ratnakaran, state agriculture minister, who is the chairman of the board. The Paddy Board?s brief is to ensure timely supply of seed, fertilisers, pesticides and subsidies to farmers, and co-ordinate farm-to-market movement.
Out of the state?s 30-lakh tonne rice offtake, only six lakh tonne was produced within Kerala. Last month the price of ?Jaya? variety rice, at retail, hit an unprecedented
Rs 21 per kilo.
The immediate trigger was the Andhra levy issue, says Yogesh Gupta, managing director, Supplyco, Kerala government?s grocery outfit.
The Andhra Pradesh government clamped a kharif season levy target of 8.94 tonne, requiring its millers to give 75% of rice milled for local use as levy rice.