Bhubaneswar: Amid the skyrocketing prices of vegetables, people of Odisha now have to shell out Rs 10 more per kg of common varieties of parboiled rice.
A few months ago, these rice varieties, consumed by over 80 per cent of the state’s population, were being sold at Rs 25 a kg. Prices of finer varieties of rice have also gone up and this is being shortage of rice in the open market.
On July 20, India prohibited the export of non-basmati white rice after a late start to seasonal monsoon rains hurt the crop and raised fears of a production shortfall.
Odisha is facing a shortage of paddy despite having registered a record food grain production of over 136 lakh tonne, including 115 lakh tonne in 2022-23 kharif marketing season. “The annual requirement of common variety of rice (boiled rice) and fine rice called ‘Arua’ in Odisha is around 50 lakh tonne and 10 lakh tonne respectively. These varieties are sourced from about 400 rice millers across the state. The millers are now saying the stock of paddy with them is inadequate,” general secretary of Odisha Byabasayee Mahasangha Sudhakar Panda told the TNIE.
He added that it is difficult to ascertain the exact shortfall as the state government has left it to the market forces (millers) to determine the price of rice.
The report further claimed that Odisha rice is finding its way to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other south Asian countries through unofficial channels despite the ban. “Private traders procured paddy from Odisha farmers by paying more than Rs 2,200 per quintal against the minimum support price of Rs 2,140. Since farmers are happy, the government is not taking any steps to stop the inter-state movement of paddy keeping the next elections in mind,” it quoted informed sources as saying.
