PUSA 1509 costs farmers between Rs 2,500 & Rs3,200 per quintal: Early basmati starts arriving in mandis, stagnant prices, lower yields a concern

In Amritsar’s Bhagtanwala grain market — one of the biggest Basmati hubs in the state — nearly 2.5 lakh bags of basmati, each weighing around 35 kg, are arriving daily for the past few days. Traders estimate that the mandi receives around one crore bags in a season. Fazilka mandi too reported arrivals, with the rates opening between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,200 per quintal.

But despite the heavy inflow, prices remain under pressure. The variety fetched between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,100 per quintal in Amritsar mandi — almost equal to last year but a fall of Rs 500 to 800 per quintal compared to 2023’s rate of Rs 3,400 to over Rs 3,600 per quintal. In 2022, opening rates were between Rs 3,400 and Rs 3,700 per quintal. In Fazilka mandi, the rate is around Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,200 per quintal, and daily around 500 bags are arriving there.

Vinod Gupta, a commission agent at Fazilka mandi, said that for the opening price this is almost equal to last year but still good as Punjab faced heavy rains this year and the crop was under huge stress. He said it may pick up in the coming days because this year, due to floods, crops — mainly paddy and basmati on around 4 lakh acres — have got damaged, which may reduce the overall produce.

“This year the incessant rain has affected the crop badly as the rain happened when this short-duration variety was close to harvesting. This led to high moisture in it, because of which the rate is almost similar to last year. We are also harvesting soon because rain is still predicted in the coming days, and if we do not harvest now, harvesting might be delayed further,” said a farmer in Amritsar mandi. He added, “In the current situation my priority is to sell my crop, though I am getting Rs 2,600 to 2,700 per quintal, which is quite low compared to the last three years. Against 23–24 quintals per acre, this time I got only 20–21 quintals due to the prolonged rains.”

PUSA 1509 accounts for about 23% of Punjab’s total basmati area and usually hits the mandis before longer-duration varieties like PUSA 1121 and 1718. But farmers say the early arrivals this year have been met with unusual rains affecting the yield, mainly in the Amritsar area.

Market experts point out that the opening rates are equal to 2021, when the variety had opened between Rs 2,350 and Rs 2,891 per quintal.

“The yield is down to 21 quintals per acre compared to 25 quintals last year,” said Rakesh Tuli, president of the Anaj Mandi Mazdoor Union, at Bhagtanwala mandi, adding that from Monday, around 3 lakh bags will start arriving here, and in other mandis also around 30,000 to 40,000 bags are arriving. He also mentioned that this year the government has increased labour charges slightly from Rs 16.70 to Rs 18.96 per bag, which will help poor labourers.

“Also farmers are brining even some paddy varieties to the mandis in advance and fetching around Rs. 2000 per quintal nearly Rs. 400 below the MSP because the paddy is still green and having huge moisture,” said Tuli, adding that farmers are in hurry to harvest as they still are fearing about the rain.

For now, farmers say they are caught between rising input costs, falling yields, stagnant prices, and nature’s fury.