Thaindian News

Chandigarh, June 11 (IANS) The Punjab government Saturday cautioned farmers against planting non-approved hybrid varieties of paddy with poor quality yield and have been shunned by the procurement agencies.

“We advise farmers not to sow PAU-201 variety and other non-approved hybrid varieties of paddy. The quality of final product is not good and not beneficial in the long run,” said Balwinder Singh Sidhu, director of agriculture.

“Both central and state purchasing agencies are continuously complaining against the lower quality of rice being received after shelling of these varieties. Rice of these varieties is found far below from the fixed specifications of the union government and therefore the state government has to suffer losses on this account,” he said.

Sidhu said that the procurement agencies have already made it clear that they would not purchase a single grain of these varieties.

“Procurement agencies, which are responsible for providing rice in the central pool after purchasing and shelling of paddy, have already made it clear that they will not lift this variety of rice. Though these varieties are somewhat economical and easily grown, as they consume less water and take lesser time to ripen, they are not approved by various agencies,” said Sidhu.

Punjab is one of the major contributors of rice in the national pool and last year it contributed around 50 lakh tonnes.