Sariaan paddy sells at Rs 10 a tiny bundle! August 29, 2011 10:57:25 PM

BHUBANESWAR | Tuesday, August 30, 2011 | Email | Print | | Back


Sariaan paddy sells at Rs 10 a tiny bundle!
August 29, 2011 10:57:25 PM

SUDHIR MISHRA | Balangir

With western Odisha’s major festival Nuankhai or Nabanna barely four days away, the Sariaan paddy has started arriving at the market but is selling at a high price.

During the festival, the newly-harvested paddy is first offered to the local deity as a mark of gratitude and then consumed by people. And Sariaan paddy is offered to the deity in the beginning.

A small bundle of hardly 10 Sariaan paddy plants was selling at Rs 10 or Rs 12 in Balangir on the footpath in front of the district Collectorate on Monday.

A woman seller said, “I have brought it (Sariaan paddy) from a farmer of Tangrupadar in Ramchandrapur Panchyat in Deogaon block, 40 km away from here, and I am selling it at 10 rupees per bundle. The paddy has not reached its properly ripened and it will remain intact for next five days,” she clarified the doubt of a person purchasing the paddy.

However, listening to the conversation of the women selling Sariaan paddy at Rs 10 and the customer, an angry villager remarked, “In our village, we give it free. Whoever goes to our field, we give a few Sariaan plants. You urbanites are purchasing it at such high price! However, he simply overlooked to the stark reality that in majority parts of the district and State drought has affected paddy cultivation process, including that of Sariaan paddy.
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