The Hindu Business Line : Rice exporters await decision on basmati definition

New Delhi, Sept. 12 The Rs 3,000-crore basmati rice export industry of India is keenly awaiting the decision on the definition of the basmati rice — whether seeds from evolved basmati using one of the two parents from among the traditional basmati varieties or a basmati variety based on family genealogy (traditional or evolved) notified under Seed Act 1966.

Sources in the basmati industry told Business Line here that a number of basmati exporters and scientists from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) have sought amendment to the definition of basmati rice in order to include newly developed basmati rice varieties, even as a few exporters and Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA), which oversees basmati rice export from the country do not like any broad generification of basmati.

While the industry estimates that current year crop of basmati rice (2007-08) consists 70 per cent of the non-notified varieties such as Pusa 1121 and CSR 30, notified basmati rice varieties such as Pusa Basmati 1, super basmati and traditional basmati rice cover only 30 per cent of production. The All-India Rice Exporters Association President, Mr Vijay Setia, told Business Line from Karnal that 50 per cent of basmati production in the current year is being accounted for by Pusa 1121 alone, a non-notified variety.

Storage

He said this was a short-duration and high productivity variety and it matured 15 days ahead of normal traditional variety of basmati, thereby consuming less water. It could be stored for three months only before export unlike traditional basmati rice which must be stored for a year and to the extent its carrying cost to farmers was also less.

The industry apprehends that any delay in the announcement of the definition of basmati rice would put paid to export of non-notified varieties. Mr Setia said Pusa 1121 variety had been fetching premium price abroad, always $100 dollar higher per tonne than the traditional basmati rice variety, especially in Iran and in the entire West Asian market. So “it is in the interests of basmati rice farmers especially in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh that the Government notifies the Pusa 1121 variety for export without further delay as the crop is ready to be reaped in a month’s time.”

The industry also fears that in the event of the Government dithering over the issue, the premium price being commanded by these non-notified basmati rice varieties would suffer a crash.

Even as the non-notified basmati rice exporters keep their fingers crossed, the Commerce Ministry, which is to take a final call on the definition of basmati, has to guard against the product being counterfeited if a loose definition is adopted. Moreover, India is spearheading a joint move with Pakistan to register basmati as Geographical Indication (GI) sui generis to the sub-continent. Says the Commerce Secretary, Mr Gopal K. Pillai, “We have a definition of basmati and if you want to change the definition, there are implications. We have to see what such implications are. No doubt, it is a critical factor as otherwise if you have a loose definition you can see other people in the world coming and stating that theirs is also basmati rice as it happened with the US Rice Tec”.

While the Commerce Ministry contends that it is yet to get the response from the Agriculture Ministry, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Kantilal Bhuria, said in the Lok Sabha on September 3, that in the proposed definition of the evolved basmati, the bar of having one of the two parents from among the traditional basmati varieties had been removed by expanding the definition to include in the family history (genealogy) a basmati variety (traditional or evolved) notified under Seed Act 1966, to pass the “basmati quality genes” into the new evolved varieties.

It is not in national interest if the proposed definition does away with origin of production and genetic lineage as that would tantamount to self-defeating India’s bid for GI to basmati.

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