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New Delhi, Sept. 6 The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) through an amendment to its September 3 notification allowing export of Pusa 1121 as non-basmati rice said that such exports would be permitted with immediate effect instead of prospectively from October 15, 2008.

Its September 5 notification said export of Pusa 1121 as non-basmati rice should be allowed with immediate effect, out of paddy procured in kharif marketing season 2008-09.

However, other riders such as exports to be registered through APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority), the minimum export price of $1200 or Rs 48,000 a tonne and exports to be allowed only through the designated six ports — Kandla, Kakinda, Kolkata, JNPT, Mumbai, Mundra and Pipavav — would remain in force.

In a fresh tirade against allowing export of Pusa 1121 as non-basmati rice, trade sources told Business Line here that the reality today is that more than 60-70 per cent of basmati rice consists of evolved varieties such as Pusa 1121.

They said the super basmati rice is not at all grown in the country and varieties such as Sikhandari and Shabnam are also exported in the name of super basmati in huge volumes. They recalled that how the Agriculture Ministry has not recognised super basmati rice as basmati under the Seed Act (1966), while the Department of Commerce has bulldozed its way into declaring it as basmati.

However, sources said, when it comes to recognising Pusa 1121 as basmati, which benefits the larger farming community, it is surprising that the authorities are reluctant to confer on Pusa 1121 the basmati status.

Even as the Centre is unwilling to include Pusa 1121 into the new definition of basmati as recommended by the Agriculture Ministry, it acted with alacrity to the Haryana Chief Minister’s demand for recognising this as non-basmati rice, resulting in huge material loss and price erosion to farmers of this genre of rice, being grown in a larger area in recent years.

Stepping up its protests over the DGFT notification allowing export of evolved basmati variety Pusa 1121 as non-basmati rice from October 15, the All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) has called for rectifying this patently anti-farmer move to the growers of this variety of rice.

In a statement issued here, AIREA President Mr Vijay Setia said t the authorities have not realised the gravity of the problems they have caused to the growers and traders of this rice as it has been fetching premium price in the overseas market in the last several years.

By its September 3 notification, the exporters should start writing “Indian non-basmati rice” on rice worth $2,000 per tonne.

These aromatic and premium rice varieties from India would be placed on the shelf along with other “non-basmati rice” from Vietnam, Pakistan and Thailand — which have been selling in the range of $400 to $700 per tonne. When such a wide price difference exists between Pusa 1121 and non-basmati rice varieties sourced from other countries, no consumer would pick the costlier non-basmati rice.

The association said at a joint meeting of the Ministry of Commerce, Agriculture and rice industry representatives that it was decided that the Ministry of Agriculture and scientists would redefine the high-yielding improved basmati varieties.

Even the declarations and assurances made by Union Agriculture Minister Mr Sharad Pawar in Chandigarh and Delhi have been nullified by the latest notification, thereby denuding the higher premium price this variety would fetch for Indian farmers.

More Stories on : Rice | Exports & Imports | Agricultural Policy

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