Paddy farmers wait for bonus in Karimnagar

The Congress party, which promised to provide Rs 500 bonus to all paddy varieties during the time of elections, had changed its voice after coming to power and announced bonus only for fine variety

Karimnagar: Paddy farmers, who sowed the fine variety of the crop during the Vanakalam season, are still waiting for the bonus promised by the State government. About 20,000 farmers are waiting in the erstwhile Karimnagar district, where the bonus to be paid amounts to Rs.41 crore.

The Congress party, which promised to provide Rs 500 bonus to all paddy varieties during the time of elections, had changed its voice after coming to power and announced bonus only for fine variety. Though there is huge demand for fine variety rice in the market, farmers used to stay away from the cultivation of fine variety paddy because of various reasons. High investment, less yield and the crop getting easily infected by insects were the main reasons. Moreover, it requires high maintenance when compared to the normal variety.

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However, with the State government’s announcement of a Rs 500 bonus, a considerable number of farmers shifted to fine variety paddy. In the Vanakalam season, paddy is usually cultivated in about 9.50 lakh acres in the erstwhile Karimnagar. However, it crossed 9.65 lakh acres in the last season. Of that, fine variety was sowed in about 3 lakh acres. While minimum support price (MSP) of Rs.2,320 was announced for quintal Grade-A (fine variety) paddy, Rs 2,300 was promised for the common variety. In addition to the MSP of Rs.2,320 announced by the Centre, the State government had promised Rs.500.

Though a majority of the farmers got the bonus, about 20,000 are yet to be paid. A total of 3.94 metric tonnes of paddy worth Rs.197 crore was procured. For this, Rs 156 crore was paid to the farmers while Rs.41 crore was pending.