(a) whether the farmers are suffering huge financial hardship due to non-export of basmati rice;
(b) if so, the effective steps being taken by the Government to simplify export to benefit the basmati growing farmers;
(c) the names of countries where there is a huge demand of basmati rice; and
(d) the measures being taken by the Government for the export of basmati rice to those countries?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
(SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)
(a) Details of exports of Basmati Rice during April-October, 2018, as compared to the same period during 2017, are as under:
Year Quantity (MT) Value (Rs. Crore.)
Apr-Oct. 2017-18 2371108 15208
Apr-Oct. 2018-19 2294787 16963
Source: DGCI&S
While there is a marginal decline of 3.28%in quantity terms, in value terms the exports have grown by 11.54%. As such, there is no question of any major hardship due to non-export of basmati rice.
(b) Does not arise in view of (a) above.
(c) The major export destination for basmati Rice are Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Yemen Republic, USA, UK etc.
(d) Promotion of exports of agricultural products like basmati rice is a continuous process. The Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), an autonomous organisation under the administrative control of Department of Commerce, has been mandated with the export promotion of Basmati rice. APEDA has been able to register Basmati Rice as a Geographical Indication (GI) in February 2016. APEDA, in collaboration with the trade, has also established Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF), which undertakes various activities for development and export promotion of Basmati rice. Moreover, APEDA has also been providing assistance to the Basmati rice exporters under various components of its export promotion scheme.
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