Duplicate 'Jaya rice' will soon hit Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Andhra government has decided to end the farming of famed Bondalu rice. This variety of rice was farmed mainly in the Godavari district. However, the decision from the Andhra government will pain many millowners who used to deceive people by giving Bondalu as Jaya rice.

MTU- 3626 is the group in which comes Bondalu rice. People in Kerala held this rice in high demand. The Bondalu rice was stopped by the Andhra government after it termed the rice group giving lesser quality food products compared with other ones.

Bondalu rice gets into the millowners at a cheap Rs 20 per kg. The millowners sell it to the people as Jaya rice taking Rs 60 per kg. The middlemen in work also get their fair share of tips for the deceiving act. Kerala was all business for such millowners since the people here had a deep liking for the brand Jaya rice.

The Jaya rice farming was stopped by Andhra farmers in 1965. But its wave hit Kerala in 1984 and it was all a deep bonding for years and Jaya took the spot as Kerala's favorite rice brand. However, it was on a trip taken by former minister P Thilothaman to Andhra in 2017 that the news got revealed as Kerala was cheated for eons by mill owners with fake Jaya rice.

With the sudden ban on Bondalu rice, the millowners are keeping a close watch on other rice groups to sell in Kerala as Jaya rice.