Soon, Kerala specialty rice may find a place in breakfast menus

Njavara rice, the traditionally variety grown in Kerala, may soon find its way into national and international breakfast menus.

Shivdas B Menon, Chairman, ‘Made in Kerala’, a CII initiative, said Njavara rice is a specialty rice grown in Kerala having high nutritional values and medicinal properties.

The idea is to convert this traditionally grown rice into Kerala’s own breakfast cereal for people of all ages to cater to both domestic and global markets.

It is traditionally used in the ayurvedic system of medicine to cure certain ailments affecting the circulatory, respiratory, and digestive system.

Menon told Business Line on the sidelines of an event that CII’s objective is to leverage Kerala’s inherent advantages in agriculture and food processing sector, considering the State’s rich biodiversity.

However, the need of the hour is to stimulate food processing and promote value-added products both in the export and domestic markets, he said.

On the lines of the technology incubation centres in the Startup Village, he said Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation has plans to set up a similar incubation centre for food and agriculture. Discussions are in progress in this regard and the proposed centre will immensely benefit the food processing sector in the State to find markets for ‘Made in Kerala’ products.

Like Njavara, he said Kerala offers huge opportunities in other value-added food products from jackfruit and other agro products; neera (sweet toddy) from coconut products; and strawberries and flowers from the high ranges.

He cited the instance of Nendran Banana and the local variety of pineapple which are being exported in large quantities.

According to him, Kerala has several advantages: excellent infrastructure, rich agricultural resources, strong and vibrant consumer market, competent human resources, a wide network of research bodies, and development organisations.

He emphasised the need to focus on post-harvest infrastructure, cold storages and cold chain, and the need to ensure world-class farming practices through private participation.