Poor infrastructure hurting quality

IN FOCUS/ Rice

Indo-China and Pakistan currently account for over half the world's rice exports and both countries are looking to improve the quality of their export produce with more standardised norms for sowing, harvesting and milling.

With 2004 being declared the international year of rice by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, India, as the world's third largest rice producer, has decided to upgrade it rice growing and handling infrastructure before trade barriers are knocked down under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in January 2005.

Export of rice is expected to shrink owing to uncompetitive domestic prices, propped up by the high minimum support price for rice. International prices are much lower today.

Alarmingly, productivity and yields in rice appear to be globally declining.

Jayantrao Patil, a former member of the agriculture planning commission, said organic recycling would be the key to increasing fertility of the soil to ensure better yield and bigger crops on a sustainable basis.

"Green manure is one effective method of replenishing the soil with organic matter," he said at the inauguration of the Rice Expo 2004 in Mumbai, jointly organised by the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Rice Exporters' Association of Pakistan.

Currently, some farmers in northern India and Pakistan are using a green manure called 'dhencha' to improve the soil.

A green manuring tree called 'Glyricidia' that requires little water and sheds 80-100 kg of leaves, is grown and used by some at the time of ploughing or transplanting rice.

Patil said Indian farmers should grow hybrid varieties of rice like farmers in China.

This would increase yield to 12 tonne per hectare, against the current average of about 2.5 tonne per ha.

Quality and standardisation of rice cannot be achieved unless the machinery used for processing it is upgraded.

Currently, there are over a lakh of rice processing mills in the country, but less than 200 or so use certified machines to process rice to acceptable standards.

Government policy at present recognises any rice mill not using an out-dated hulling machine as a modern one.

According to a machine manufacturer participating in the Expo, competition especially from Thailand and Vietnam will rise once quotas are dismantled.

Rice millers have to invest in machines like shellers, table separators, whiteners and polishers to survive. At present, almost all the machines used are locally fabricated.

Eknath Thakur, the president of MCCI and member of the Rajya Sabha, said he hoped the Expo would bring together competing neighbours like India Pakistan and lead to successful entry into new markets and higher rice exports.