The domestic rice industry has requested the government to make change in its old definition of basmati framed in 2003.
The new definition on basmati is expected shortly from the Ministry of Agriculture. However, All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) has already approved the proposed definition of basmati recently.
?The old definition is narrow and is giving advantage to rice suppliers to EU and is proving disastrous for a variety like pusa basmati 1121,? Vijay Setia, president, All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) said.
?With new definition, the government can change the fate of our farmers by including this variety into the definition,? he said.
Basmati Variety ?pusa 1121? popularly known as World?s Longest Cooking Rice and this new basmati variety will rule all over the world. It can be noted that pusa basmati 1121 variety has snatched more than 50% of Pakistan preferred market and its shares.
In the present market scenario, pusa basmati 1121 is fetching the highest price for farmers and exporters as the paddy prices for pusa basmati 1121 are approximately Rs 42,000-45,000 per tonne and the rice is being exported at the price of $1,600-2,000 per tonne, which is all time record.
Looking to the recent demand, the farmers whose income in last season was nearly 50,000 per acre from this variety can even get higher prices to the tune of 75,000 to 1 lakh in the coming season.
Because of demand ? supply mismatch & consumer affection towards this rice variety, pusa basmati 1121 has acted as catalyst of raising respect of Indian Exporters in International Markets, source said.
The dependencies on certain countries like Europe, Middle East and other countries have declined and long time contracts, hefty payment conditions & attitude of buyers have shown drastic changes.