A start-up firm has exported two consignments of 4.5 tonnes of patented “village rice” sourced from Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district to Ghana and Yemen via air and sea routes.

A statement from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) said that the start-up firm Udaya Agro Farm has sourced the “village rice” directly from farmers in Thanjavur, the rice bowl of Tami Nadu.

APEDA assisted the start-up firm, which plans to increase its volume of exports of the special rice over the next few months. The orders won by Udaya Agro Farm is seen as a major boost to India’s non-basmati rice exports potential.

The unique feature of “village rice” is that it is enriched with protein, fibre, and various minerals.

Red rice exports

This development comes on the heels of APEDA helping in the shipments of “red rice” from Assam to the US in March this year. Iron-rich “red rice” is grown in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam without using any chemical fertilizer. The rice variety is referred to as “ Bao-dhaan” , an integral part of the Assamese food.

Earlier this month, a consignment of rice was exported from the Paradip International Cargo Terminal, Odisha, to Vietnam. This was for the first time in recent years, non-basmati rice was exported from Paradip Port.

APEDA, which is the nodal agency for agricultural and processed food exports in the country, is working with various stakeholders such as farmers, entrepreneurs, exporters and importers across the globe to harness India’s non-basmati rice exports potential.

During 2020-21 fiscal, the shipment of non-basmati rice witnessed an impressive rise of 146 per cent. As a result, non-basmati rice exports totalled ₹35,448 crore compared with ₹14,400 crore during 2019-20 fiscal.

Non-basmati rice exports to African and Asian countries are undertaken from various ports of India such as Kakinada, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai, Mundra and Krishnapatnam. Paradip will soon emerge as one of the major rice-exporting port of the country.

The sharp spike in rice exports, especially during a phase where globally the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted supply changes many commodities, has been attributed to the government taking prompt measures to ensure rice exports while taking all the Covid-19 related safety precautions.

APEDA has promoted rice exports through collaborations with various stakeholders in the value chains. The government had set up the Rice Export Promotion Forum (REPF) under the aegis of the APEDA. REPF has representations from the rice industry, exporters, officials from APEDA, ministry of commerce and directors of agriculture from major rice-producing states including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, the statement added.

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