Ibrahimpur farmers reap rich benefits with Telangana Sona cultivation
Siddipet: At a time when the procurement of paddy is becoming a national issue, the paddy farmers at Ibrahimpur in Siddipet district were reaping rich benefits with paddy cultivation as an NGO has been helping them by purchasing, processing and marketing the Telangana Sona rice, which is being cultivated the farmers here in over 150 […]
Siddipet: At a time when the procurement of paddy is becoming a national issue, the paddy farmers at Ibrahimpur in Siddipet district were reaping rich benefits with paddy cultivation as an NGO has been helping them by purchasing, processing and marketing the Telangana Sona rice, which is being cultivated the farmers here in over 150 acres.
In all, the farmers in Ibrahimpur village were getting Rs 240 to Rs Rs 340 additional price than the MSP on quintal of paddy.
When Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University (PJTSAU) developed the Telangana Sona variety, which had low GI (glycemic index), GCOT (Gramodaya Chamber of Commerce and Technology), an NGO working for farmers encouraged a few persons to launch a startup called Deccan Mudra. Since 2020 June, GCOT and Deccan Mudra have been working with the farmers at Ibrahimpur village by making them cultivate Telangana Sona variety paddy assuring to buy back by paying more than MSP.
Speaking to Telangana Today, founder and MD of GCOT, Delhi Vasanth said that they were impressed by the Telangana Sona variety developed by our own Telangana Agriculture University and benefits from it. After talking to so many farmers and agriculture extension officers across the State, Vasanth said that they have selected Ibrahimpur village to encourage the farmers to cultivate Tealngana sona in June 2020. Since then the Deccan Mudra has purchased the Telangana Sona paddy by offering Rs 2200 though the MSP was Rs 1,860 in 2020. After milling and processing the paddy, Chief Operating Officer of GCOT VK Raju said the Deccan is packing it attractively to market them in most of the super bazaars in Hyderabad. Now, Deccan Mudra has built a godown at Ibrahimpur and employed three persons besides providing employment to four other women from the village around the year.
While the farmers in entire Telangana were worried about lack of assurance on the paddy procurement now, the 80 farmers in Ibrahimpur, who cultivated Telangana Sona in 151 acres, had no such worries because their paddy harvest was assured to buy by Deccan Mudra. In a phased manner, the GCOT and Deccan Mudra were planning to work with farmers from a few other villages.
Agriculture Extension Officer at Ibrahimpur T Nagarjuna said that most of the Ibrahimpur farmers were also started eating Telangana Sona, which is another benefit the farmers from the village are getting.
Paddy farmer from the village Kumbala Nagesh Reddy said that he had cultivated Telangana Sona in 4 acres 28 gunts this Yasangi. While farmers from neighbouring villages were worried about the lack of assurance on paddy procurement for which they were blaming the BJP led union government, Reddy said that they had no such issues because they had an agreement with Deccan Mudra.
