Over the past decade, farmer G Ravinder Reddy has noticed an agricultural shift in his village, Choppadanti. Acreage of paddy in the village in Telangana’s Karimnagar district has increased in both kharif (or vanakalam) and rabi (yasangi) seasons.
“Irrigation has shifted, as paddy fields need to be flooded, not watered periodically like maize,” says Ravinder Reddy, who grew cotton, maize and paddy earlier, but now only grows paddy. The village has also gained a floating population of farm workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra during sowing and harvest.
Such a scenario may be visible across Telangana, particularly after the state government’s decision to give farmers a bonus of R500 per quintal (100 kg) above minimum support price (MSP) on procurement of fine-grained paddy, which has been less cultivated in the state.
This bonus is part of the Congress government’s promises during the 2023 state assembly elections. Its manifesto only mentioned “paddy crops”. After coming to power, the government specified the bonus for 33 fine paddy varieties. A July 2024 release by the government classifies fine paddy as that with a kernel strength of less than 6 mm, kernel length-breadth ratio of over 2.5 and moisture content of 17 per cent. BPT 5204 (Samba Mahsuri), RNR 15048 (Telangana Sona) and HMT Sona are some of the fine varieties grown in Telangana.
However, the bonus raises concerns on incentivisation of paddy production. Already in Telangana, paddy acreage is rising in absolute terms and as share of the total cropped area, during both seasons (see ‘A definite rise’). In 2024-25, the state saw record paddy production of 15.35 million tonnes during kharif and 12.75 million tonnes during rabi seasons, according to irrigation and civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy.
At the same time, area under other crops is falling. The Reserve Bank of India in a December 2024 report says be-tween 2013-14 and 2023-24, Telangana’s cropped area under fruits fell from 300,000 hectares (ha) to 160,000 ha, vegetables from 220,000 ha to less than 50,000 ha and sugarcane from 39,000 ha to 27,000 ha. Area under oilseeds halved, while coarse cereals and pulses also saw marginal declines. Only cotton recorded a slight rise from 170,000 ha to 180,000 ha.
“Why are we producing paddy in over 5 million ha per year instead of diversifying to other crops?,” asks G V Ramanjaneyulu, director, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), a Hyderabad-based non-profit. Aldas Janaiah, vice-chancellor of the Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, suggests 100,000 ha can be diverted for horticulture, pulses and oilseeds during rabi.
Bonus for fine paddy also draws criticism because farmers prefer coarse paddy, which is less prone to breakage. Coarse paddy also gets high prices from private traders and is used to make parboiled rice to sell in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Uttam Kumar Reddy said in April the state would distribute 3 million tonnes of fine rice a year to 31 million people, or 84 per cent of the state’s population. He clarified fine rice is already supplied under the Public Distribution System.
Experts raise doubts about the nutritional value of fine rice. Dayakar Rao, former principal scientist at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Indian Institute of Millet Research, says fine rice has a higher glycemic index (a system that ranks foods containing carbohydrates on how quickly they raise blood sugar levels) than coarse rice and can cause diabetes. Salome Yesudas, a food and nutrition consultant in Hyderabad, adds, “Fine rice loses all B complex vitamins once it is polished. It is better to consume semi-polished rice or millets.”
Also in April, Uttam Kumar Reddy said Telangana has begun rice exports to the Philippines. A Memorandum of Understanding is signed to export 100,000 tonnes of rice and 800,000 tonnes of paddy, of fine-grained IR64 and MTU1010 varieties. But this may not be enough, says Janaiah. “The Philippines’ paddy harvest fell short over the past decade and so it imports 4-5 million tonnes. But Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns already have 70-80 million tonnes of rice. By November new harvest will leave 30-40 million tonnes for disposal,” he says. “FCI also gives rice to ethanol plants for Rs 22 a kg, though it is procured at Rs 37-39 a kg,” he adds.
“Sending rice abroad amounts to export of water made available by displacing people and constructing dams,” says Ramanjaneyulu. “Paddy receives impetus as its entire value chain, from pre-production to post-harvest, has government support. What we need is to incentivise farmers to shift to other crops,” he says.
This article was originally published in the September 1-15, 2025 print edition of Down To Earth