The Tamil Nadu Rice Mill Owners Association has urged people not to panic-buy rice because of rumours on social media about a shortage in the state, The Hindu reported on 11 October 2026.
Quick Facts
| Where | Press meet in Madurai, Sunday 11 October |
| Association president | M.R. Dinesh Singh |
| Message | Stocks are adequate; the situation is “not alarming” |
| Price rise | Mainly the fine-quality rice (sannarisi); varieties such as “ganaragam” unchanged |
| Expected easing | Before January |
What the Association Said
Association leaders said cultivation has fallen because of the Super El Nino effect, but reserves remain. Dinesh Singh said the preferred fine-quality rice is grown very little in Tamil Nadu and is mostly bought from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, where lower yields have been caused by changing climate patterns.
“It is true that the prices have gone up specifically for the fine rice quality, but other varieties like ‘ganaragam’ remain the same,” he said.
He said that after cultivation was affected and shortage signs appeared, traders and farmers began buying large amounts of rice from neighbouring states, which pushed up demand and prices. “Though the Kuruvai cultivation is a failure this year, these positive developments will definitely control the prices before January,” he said, citing good cultivation results in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the coming north-east monsoon.
What They Want From the Government
- **Research:** the association said the state has not taken active steps to promote local cultivation of fine-quality rice, and should fund research and development so Tamil Nadu can grow more of it. People moved from coarse to fine varieties about 15 years ago, it said, and local cultivation did not keep pace
- **Storage:** adequate facilities for farmers to dry and store paddy. Dinesh Singh alleged that although farmers pay a 1 per cent service tax, market committees do not provide enough storage
These are the association’s claims, as reported by The Hindu. The report did not include a response from the state government.
Featured image: Rice paddy fields in Tamil Nadu (file photo). Photo by KARTY JazZ, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.