Bhopal, Sep 24 (Inditop.com) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged the centre to include the state among those where the Basmati rice variety is grown, officials said here Thursday.
In a letter written to union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Wednesday, Chouhan requested him to direct the Export Development Authority to include Madhya Pradesh in the areas producing Basmati rice. The chief minister wrote that non-inclusion had affected the export potential of farmers from the state.
“A large number of farmers of Madhya Pradesh have been traditionally growing Basmati paddy in Narmada valley and parts of Gwalior region and non-inclusion of the state in the Basmati-producing areas has had an adverse effect on the export potential of state farmers,” the letter said.
According to the letter, the area currently under cultivation for Basmati rice in Madhya Pradesh was approximately 26,000 hectare and production was about 1.5 million quintals. Two modern rice milling plants have also been set up in the state by leading Basmati exporters.
The chief minister said the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) had submitted an application for registration of Basmati paddy as a Geographical Indication (GI) but had not included Madhya Pradesh in the Basmati production area.
“Indo-Gangetic plains in the foothills of the Himalayas, meaning the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir have been included in the application,” Chouhan said.
He requested the union agriculture minister to intervene in the matter and direct APEDA to include Madhya Pradesh in the list.
