Analysis of production and marketing status of Gobindabhog rice in Nadia district of West Bengal

The area and production of Gobindabhog, a popular indigenous aromatic rice of West Bengal, India is going down during last 30–40 years due to rapid adoption of high-yielding varieties in the state. A base-line survey was conducted on 261 randomly selected Gobindabhog farmers of 6 blocks in Nadia district through personal interview using structured and pre-tested schedule during 2010 to assess the production status; while on 46 growers for post-production parameters like use of paddy, processing, marketing, etc. during 2010–11. Most (90.8%) of the respondent farmers, being small and marginal ones, cultivated Gobindabhog rice upto 0.3 ha land, with district average of 0.2 ha. Mean seed rate of the district was 30.0 kg ha−1 and major (83.1%) transplanting operations were done during the period between 2nd fortnight of July and 1st fortnight of August. Most of the farmers adopted nutrient, weed and water management practices in their fields planted with Gobindbhog as they expected higher returns compared to other rice varieties. With mixed responses in use of paddy, milling and marketing, about 58.7% farmers sold their paddy at district average selling price of `1116.00 per 60 kg bag. Analysis of grain samples across the blocks showed that mean hulling, milling and head rice recovery were 78.9, 69.0 and 59.6%, respectively.