Primary stage of the rice supply chain is held by the paddy farmers who supply paddy to the rice
processing companies, which is supplied both directly and through intermediaries, depending on
the type of farmers and their productivity. The farmers may be categorised in two types as: large
land holding farmers and the Small land holding ones, on the basis of the land they own, their
production capacity and reachability to the market. Large Land Holding Farmers involved in
organised production from business point of view who produce on very large scale and, the
second type of farmers which are Small Land Holding Farmers, working on small farms in
villages, whose productivity is low, and can spare very low amount of paddy after keeping the
year’s stock for their own use. Based on the kind of production they are involved into; they are
divided into two types: Organic Farmers, those who are involved in organic farming where
cultivation of the paddy is based on the use of green manure, compost and the approved natural
substances while without any use of the manufactured chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides
including the insecticides, fungicides and the herbicides. Secondly, Inorganic Farmers are those
who use the manufactured chemicals, fertilizers, and the pesticides for cultivation of paddy.