Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday urged the Union government to “immediately review” its decision to effectively ban rice exports, saying “Every time our farmers stand to profit from an increase in global rice prices, the centre bans its export. This is discriminatory. The ban needs to be revoked immediately”.
The SAD president was reacting to a ban on basmati rice valued at less than $1,200 per metric tonne which the government claims is aimed at stopping the export of non-basmati rice through reclassification. “This will however have an impact on even exports of basmati rice.” Labelling this and theof 20% duty on the export of par-boiled rice another “anti-farmer decision”, Badal said, “Instead of such bans the union government should hike the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to aid the food security needs of the country”.
Asserting that farmers had been dealt a double whammy by being forced to sell their paddy crop at a lower MSP, Badal said, “Now when they stand to benefit due to the high export price of rice, export of this commodity has been banned”. He earlier claimed farmers had been denied the benefits of an increase in wheat prices globally after a similar export ban last year. “Farmers desperately need higher prices to offset the loss due to flooding which has forced many of them to go in for re-transplantation of paddy when the first crop was destroyed.