Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government will create conducive environment for boosting up the export of Aromatic Non-Basmati Rice from the State.
Considering the paddy production potential of Odishan agro-climatic zones, existence of huge genetic diversity of aromatic germplasm, traditional skill of the farmers, and availability of port facilities for foreign trading steps will be taken for creation of conducive eco-system for boosting up the export of Non-Basamati aromatic rice from Odisha.
In another step towards opening new avenues for paddy farmers of Odisha, an interactive session with different stake holders for promoting rice export from Odisha was held recently in digital mode under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra.
Principal Advisor to Chief Minister and Chairman Western Odisha Development Council Asit Tripathy along with senior officers from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of India, agricultural scientists and rice exporters participated in deliberations.
Principal Advisor to Chief Minister Mr.Tripathy said, “Odisha as a rice surplus State has bumper availability for export. There are also rice aggregators in Odisha who can be trained and mobilized towards export oriented operations”.
He advised APEPA of Government of India and Directorate of Agriculture, Odisha to organize ground level workshops with rice aggregators, food exporters, and farmer producer organizations to infuse confidence in farming community for production of export quality paddy.
Further, Chief Secretary Mr.Mahapatra directed to adopt cluster approach in promotion of the non-Basmati aromatic verities of paddy cultivation. He also directed to identify the agro-climatic zones more suitable for cultivation of such varieties. Mr.Mahapatra added, “Government of Odisha is committed to enhance farmers’ income by boosting the rice export, and State will provide all possible support for the purpose”.
Mr.Mahapatra also asked the department of agriculture and farmers’ empowerment to constitute a resource team for boosting the rice export. It was also decided that the team would visit Andhra Pradesh for gaining exposure to the actual practices adopted in export of non-basmati aromatic verities.
Chief Secretary directed the department to frame a realistic work plan with the suggestions from technical session of the seminar, and inputs from the resource team so that those could be carried forward.
The requirements like establishment of laboratory network in Odisha, creation of a rice warehouse at Paradip port, creation of awareness about Indian and global food practices among the farmers, extension of necessary agri-inputs and technical support to the farmers for production of the non-Basmati aromatic paddy etc were also discussed in the meeting.
Additional Chief Secretary and Agriculture Production Commissioner Sanjeev Chopra, Chairman APEDA M Angumuthu, Principal Secretary Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Vir Vikram Yadav, Director Agriculture M Muthu Kumar, President Rice Exporters Association V V Rao along with senior scientists and Exports participated in the deliberations.