iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
When Sheikh Khaled planted sapling at Rajghat, it was special; here's why
KT APPDOWNLOAD
India's rice export ban could hit planting, farm income: Farmers' body
The ban was announced right in the middle of the current planting season, and the decision has sent a wrong signal to farmers
Rice planting in India could fall by 5% as New Delhi's decision to ban non-basmati white rice exports will cut farm income and encourage growers to switch to other crops, a leading farmers' group with close ties to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said. The world's biggest rice exporter - accounting for more than 40% of global supplies of the staple - last month ordered a halt to non-basmati white rice exports, driving prices to multi-year highs.
"The rice export ban was announced right in the middle of the current planting season, and that's why the decision has sent a wrong signal to farmers," Mohini Mohan Mishra, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), or Indian Farmers' Union, told Reuters.
BKS is the farmers' wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party.
Despite being ideologically aligned with the ruling party, BKS often opposes some of India's farm policies, at times forcing a rethink. BKS also lends its support to protesting farmers.
Mishra said the government must compensate farmers by buying large quantities of the new-season rice harvest at higher prices.
In June, India raised the price at which it will buy new-season common rice paddy from farmers by 7% to 2,183 rupees ($26.45) per 100 kg.
Every year authorities raise the so-called Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) of staples such as rice and wheat to build stockpiles to run the world's biggest food welfare programme, which entitles poor people to free grains.
"Because the government has banned rice exports, it must announce a bonus over this year's rice MSP to help farmers sell their crop at higher prices," Mishra said.
Indian farmers, who typically plant rice in the rainy months of June and July, will start harvesting the crop in October.
Once rice harvests start trickling in, the government-backed Food Corporation of India will start buying the crop from farmers at the state-set MSPs.
ALSO READ:
More news from World
52,000 Gazan children would have started first grade on Monday
Historian Allan Lichtman reveals his much-discussed, once-every-four-years White House prediction, based on what he calls the '13 keys' method
A massive television audience is expected to tune in on Tuesday to watch Harris go toe to toe with Trump over what both are calling the most important election of modern times
This was one of the most violent attacks in years, according to Britain-based Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman
The elections are the first to be held under a law passed in January 2022 that increased the overall number of seats in the house, reserved a higher number for women and lowered the minimum age for candidates
Turk sees the need to change paths to avoid a future filled with military escalation, repression, disinformation, deepening inequality and rampant climate change
The most common types of microplastics detected in the study were polyethylene and polypropylene, commonly found in single-use packaging, takeaway containers and disposable utensils