REAP announces Rs10mln reward

KARACHI: The Managing Committee of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) has announced a reward of Rs10 million for breeder/scientist who develops high yielding basmati seed, a statement said on Tuesday.

REAP with this initiative has become the first trade association, which has taken initiatives to secure its supply chain, particularly for basmati, which is a national heritage and acts as Pakistan’s ambassador globally, it added.

Such initiatives will encourage many breeders to come up with high-yielding extra long grain basmati rice varieties that will lower the cost of production, resulting in boosting the basmati exports of Pakistan.

Non-basmati hybrid rice variety, which is very popular in Sindh due to its high yield and high income/acre advantage has now started to be cultivated in core basmati areas of Punjab due to farmer acceptability.

This is causing a threat to basmati production, which might lead to lesser basmati crop size.

Sensing this threat to its supply chain, REAP is encouraging research in high-yielding basmati varieties to attract farmers and has also urged the government to ban the cultivation of non-basmati hybrid rice in core basmati growing areas of Punjab by initiating zoning, it said.