Kurnool rice price may go up

KURNOOL: The price of Kurnool Sonarice is likely to go up by about Rs 300 per quintal this season due to thedrought.The rice that will come into the market in December is likely tobe sold at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500, as against the usual price of Rs 800 to Rs1,200, according to traders. Farmers and traders of Kurnool district cited theprolonged dry spell during the kharif and the government''s decision not torelease water for the paddy during rabi as reasons. Government''s advice tofarmers not to sow paddy during rabi was also mentioned as one of the causes forthe likely price spiral.The Kurnool Sona variety of paddy is sown inseveral parts of the state including Kurnool, Warangal districts and somedistricts of coastal Andhra. But, the paddy, sown under the Kurnool-Cuddapah(KC) canal, has greater demand in the market. "We struggled for water allthese days and spent thousands of rupees to pump seepage water from theSrisailam Right Bank Canal (SRBC) for the paddy crop," Vijayaramakrishna Reddy,a farmer of Regadaguduru village in Velugodu mandal said. He told The Times ofIndia that his paddy crop under the KC canal had almost withered due tonon-availability of water.At that stage, the villagers drew seepage waterfrom the SRBC by using diesel engines as the power supply was irregular. "Wespent an additional amount of at least Rs 2,000 per acre to get water", Reddysaid.According to Babul Reddy of Sri Venkateswara Rice Mill, the old riceis being sold at Rs 1,800 per quintal at present.