LARKANA: Farmers of Sindh should prefer to cultivate Basmati paddy henceforth instead of cultivating hybrid paddy in future as the rate of basmati rice in the international market is $1100 per metric ton while Irri rice rate is $300 per metric ton.
This was stated by Muhammad Anwar Menor, President, Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) while addressing a reception held in their honour by Larkana Chamber of Agriculture at Rashdi Farm in Naundero on Saturday.
He said with a 15-member delegation, he has come to the doorstep of Basmati rice growers in your city, Naundero, to inform you that farmers should grow basmati rice in future in their fields instead of hybrid paddy to increase their income and improve lives.
Director General, Agriculture Research, Sindh, Noor Muhammad Baloch, said that we are developing rice varieties under the name of Sindh Basmati which will help the farmers of Sindh to get better yields according to their climatic conditions. He said we are working hard to soon reveal the varieties of rice that will not only give the farmers more productivity but their rates will also be improved in the international market which will ensure the prosperity of the farmers.
Speaking on the occasion, Ashfaq Ghafar and other representatives of REAP said that like Upper Sindh, the REAP would also provide technical assistance to farmers in Lower Sindh, which would help in increasing the production of rice and improve their livings.
Scientists at Pak Agricultural Research Council have recently discovered a variety of basmati rice, which has a production capacity of 120 maunds per acre, named Al-Khalid Basmati, said Sirajul Oliya Rashdi, President, Larkana Chamber of Agriculture. He said it has given more than 80 minutes of production in South Punjab. The rice is longer than the usual, but it does not have aroma. It is soft in food, he added. He requested the REAP delegation to supply the seed as subsidy to Upper Sindh farmers if you really want them to sow this new variety.
REAP delegation consisted of former chairman Rafiq Salman, Fawad Gharib, Safdar Hussain Mehri, Dr. Mohammad Hafeez, Asif Sheikh, Shiraz Shaikh, Nadeem Holai, Qamar Raza Shaukat, Altaf Hussain Sheikh, Arif Ali Khan and others.