The rice industry has a bright future, but it has to address the issue of..

“There is need to focus on clusters for production of rice with farmers to address the concerns of pesticide usage and other requirements of the markets,” – Devender K Singh, Chairman, APEDALeaders of the rice industry have urged the Centre and the State Governments to create a better enabling environment for agricultural market agencies and boards. They have called on the Government both at the Centre and the States to strengthen these institutions so as to ensure welfare of paddy farmers. Following a roundtable on ‘Opportunities and Challenges in the Rice Industry in India and the way forward’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), as many as 25 industry leaders from the sector have called on the government to help these agencies to monitor traceability in paddy right from the farm to market. They have also called on the government to ensure better returns for the paddy farmers through transparent price discovery. CII has also decided to form a working group to take up issues facing the rice industry in a very structured and result-oriented manner.Mr Rajesh Srivastava, Chairman, CII Regional Committee on Food and Agriculture (NR) and Chairman, Rabo Equity Advisors, has said traceability would ensure that the rice industry can meet the varying quality standards followed by various countries. This way the right quality of rice can be exported and rejection can be prevented thus curtailing any losses.

The CII industry chiefs have also volunteered to implement several measures such as driving research in seed development and other activities related to farm services on their own, he added.

They have also emphasised on the greater role of the rice industry to ensure as well as push for corrective measures for desired results both from the central, state governments as well as internationally.

Mr Devender K Singh, Chairman, APEDA, has said, “The rice industry has a bright future, but it has to address the issue of quality regulations. There is need to focus on clusters for production of rice with farmers to address the concerns about pesticide usage and other requirements of the markets.”