Basmati rice varieties, including the world’s longest grain, developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) are under threat in the export market, as countries such as Qatar and Jordan start adhering to the maximum residue limit (MRL) standards set by the European Union Is. The European Union).
However, new disease resistant varieties from IARI and domestic standards proposed by food quality regulator FSSAI can help India provide the safest aromatic rice to the world.
The basmati industry simultaneously fears that the proposed FSSAI standards on MRL – which are even stricter than the Codex, which is generally followed across the world – will stifle basmati exports. The All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) has urged the Center not to implement the proposed MRL in respect of rice.
drop in exports
Basmati rice exports to the EU declined by 35 per cent to 2.2 lakh tonnes (lt) in 2021-22 from the previous year due to qualitative restrictions, while overall exports of the aromatic varieties to all countries declined by 15 per cent to 3.95 million tonnes. Although exports to the UAE and Lebanon increased in the last financial year, it is still lower than the previous high. Sources said the three main varieties Pusa Basmati (PB) 1121 (world’s first longest rice after ripening), PB 1509 and PB 1401- accounted for nearly 90 per cent of Basmati exports.
For example, exports to UAE were around 2.6 liters last year, while it was around 3 liters in 2018-19. Similarly, exports to Lebanon fell by a quarter in 2020-21, and last year, it rose marginally to around 9,300 tonnes. Although the industry has expressed apprehensions about Egypt, which has also begun to comply with EU norms in MRL, it has been increasing every year for the past five years. The UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar and the European Union accounted for 16 per cent of India’s total basmati exports last year.
The FSSAI norms for MRLs were first notified in December 2018, following which it published a draft notification in August 2020, making the MRLs of certain insecticides very strict. There are 18 pesticides used in paddy crop (including basmati), for which FSSAI has proposed to replace the MRLs. Of these, acephate and chlorpyrifos are among the nine insecticides that have raised concerns in the European Union, sources said.
Once implemented…
As per the 2018 notification of FSSAI, the MRL of Carbendazim and Cypermethrin is at 2 (mg/kg) each, which is proposed to be reduced to 0.05 and 0.01 respectively. “We are also unable to comply with FSSAI’s 2018 norms. If the revised notification of 2020 is implemented, the pesticide residue norms will become stricter and exports will drop drastically in future,” said a representation from the industry to the government.
“If the 2020 notification is implemented, it will lead to a situation where even a single grain of Basmati rice produced will not conform to the norms,” said an exporter.
Trade policy analyst S Chandrasekaran said, “Indian Basmati has been facing residue issues since 2012. The ad-hoc approach on residue issues in the past has put exports at risk.” Suggesting that exporters should work with specific backward linkage system till the individual farmer is the solution, Chandrasekaran said that the government should release the varieties after due scrutiny as per the emerging SPS standards. He also said that the draft FSSAI standards could be the driver to reach a permanent solution to this problem.
disease resistant varieties
But, AK Singh, director of IARI and inventor of PB 1509, said: “It is not that the problem has come because of PB 1121 or PB 1509 (both are grown in an area of 6 lakh hectares, each). The earlier varieties were also not disease resistant. With the passage of time, when the area of a particular variety grows, the disease also appears which is a natural phenomenon.
Singh said that IARI has developed three improved varieties for the care of bacterial blight and blast diseases – PB 1509 with PB 1847, PB 1401 with PB 1886 and PB 1121 with PB 1885. During the last Kisan Mela in March, IARI also distributed. 20 quintals of these seeds would allow 2,000 farmers to multiply this kharif season (1 kg can produce 2 quintals of seed), Singh said, adding that in 2-3 years, it would solve some of the concerns. will be able to accomplish, especially regarding tricycloazole.
“Currently, we are working on developing some varieties to take care of the brown planthopper, which is another common pest in paddy,” Singh said.
Published on
13 July 2022