Traders’ awareness essential for a crop variety to succeed

December 24, 2014 11:06 pm | Updated April 05, 2016 12:47 am IST

rice

rice

Whatever hardship a farmer undertakes to grow a crop, it is ultimately the consumer preference that decides its success in the market place. Based on demand from the consumer, a crop is labelled a success or failure.

Particularly for rice varieties, today in almost all the markets across Tamil Nadu, the popularity of raw rice is so much that whatever variety a farmer cultivates it is sold under a major brand name called “super fine variety.”

Two years back

Two years back the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, through its Rice Research Institute in Aduthurai had introduced a variety called ADT 49 which gave a good yield both under SRI method and general cultivation but traders simply refused to buy it from farmers because they had not heard the name and were not familiar about the characteristics of the variety.

Many farmers who had grown the variety were put through lot of hardship in marketing it.

“Compared to many previous rice varieties ADT 49 is quite sturdy to stand up to pest and infestations. But I could not sell it easily after harvest from my four acres. I had to wait for nearly three months and the interest value on my investments for those three months increased several fold till I could sell it and clear my dues,” sighs Mr. M. Velu a farmer in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu.

Like Mr. Velu, several farmers who had cultivated this variety had informed the Rice Institute about the hardship in marketing it.

Based on their grievances, scientists from the institute visited several ADT49 growers and checked the quality of the harvested grains.

“In many places we found that the harvested grains were good without any infestation. But the problem was marketing since traders had never heard of ADT 49,” says Dr. R. Rajendran, Director-in- charge of the Institute.

Release details

Till date the Aduthurai Institute has released more than a dozen varieties all of which are well known among the rice growers in the state.

Apart from these, a medium duration variety called BPT (bapatla) is also grown among a specified segment of delta growers.

“We find that delta farmers prefer to cultivate BPT than other varieties since it gets a better price among the traders.

“A 75 kg bag of paddy fetches Rs. 1,200 to 1,300 (per bag), but unlike ADT 49, bapatla is not a hardy crop. It cannot withstand the different infestations common among rice plants.

“In fact, in some regions farmers reported total loss of the crop. We do not recommend BPT among Tamil Nadu rice growers. In spite of this, farmers are opting for repeated cultivation of this variety due to its preference by traders,” explains Dr. Rajendran.

Even though ADT 49 yields about 30 bags from an acre and sells for Rs. 1,300 than BPT, farmers are hesitant to grow it due to lack of a good market.

However, farmers who have cultivated ADT-49 have given good feedback about it for its higher yield and grain quality which are better than or equal to BPT.

Better endurance

“ADT 49 has better endurance to pest or disease attack and the crop is able to recover after the incidence which is not so in case of BPT,” says Dr. Saraswathi, senior scientist at the Institute. As there were mixed responses from different quarters on these varieties the Institute decided to re-evaluate both.

Seventy one participants including farmers took part in a evaluation procedure for checking characteristics such as appearance, cohesiveness, tenderness, chewing, aroma etc.

Agreed

All the participants agreed that both varieties are somewhat same in all the specifications with ADT49 variety possessing a slightly better taste after being cooked.

“So what is needed now is the awareness among traders that ADT 49 variety is equivalent and is no way inferior to other previous varieties,” stresses Dr. Rajendran.

For more information farmers and rice traders can contact Dr.R.Rajendran, Director i/c Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute (TRRI), on email: dirtrri@tnau.ac.in, Phone : 0435- 2472098, mobiles:09443421207 and 09489056726.

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