The Yogi Adityanath government is preparing to promote the cultivation of Kala Namak rice. Kala Namak is a special variety of rice with a distinct aroma and taste. The exotic crop has been shunned by farmers in the past for its low yield and Yogi government seeks to solve this problem with high yield variety seeds for farmers, as Kala Namak rice has tremendous export potential and can push farmers’ income.
India continues to rule the global scented rice trade through Basmati but over the last decade, the production continues to be stagnated at 1-1.5 million tonnes because the scented variety cannot be grown beyond stipulated tracts as it would lose aroma and essential traits. This has led to India falling behind the pecking order in the exporting of organic rice and contributes a meagre $2 million in a $2 billion global market. While the global scented rice market continues to grow, India is lacking aromatic varieties to offer due to its over-dependence on Basmati. Since the Green Revolution, India’s more than 300 non-basmati scented varieties of rice are meeting slow death with Uttar Pradesh having already lost the germplasm of 20 non-basmati scented varieties. The Yogi Adityanath government has moved to increase India’s footprint in the global rice export and has been promoting ‘Kala Namak’, a non-basmati scented rice variety which has great export potential and shall now do so on an international scale.
Kala Namak is primarily grown in Uttar Pradesh and is known as the ‘pride of Purvanchal’ and is named so because of its black husk. Its traits are far superior to those of Basmati with its great head rice recovery which, after polishing increases the profitability. The recovery rate of Kala Namak is 65% which is way more than Basmati’s 45% rate of recovery. Not only is it more palatable and digestible, but the water requirement is also substantially low as compared to Basmati and additionally, does not need standing water during transplantation. Due to its low water requirements, in the regions which have been severely affected by drought in the past and have seen the rice yield drop by 50%, Kala Namak remained unaffected by the drought.
Kala Namak is also strongly resistant to the notorious rice diseases such as panicle blast, Bacterial blight, stem rot and brown spot. These traits of the Kala Namak rice make its significantly superior to the most preferred Basmati, the Dehradun Basmati. The fact that it also contains zinc and iron in ample measure, makes it a perfect fit for diabetic patients. It has tremendous export potential due to its distinct traits but the farmers are averse to adopting it due to lack of quality seeds and the prospect of low yield and this is where the Yogi government has decided to step in.
“If we can create awareness of this rice variety on an international level, the income of farmers can easily be doubled,” said Principal Secretary at Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Navneet Sehgal.
The Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh has selected Kala Namak rice as a product from Siddharth Nagar under its “one district one product” scheme. Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises’ Principal Secretary Navneet Sehgal recently visited Siddhartha Nagar and assured the farmers that the government would provide them with good quality seeds for the next sowing season as the Yogi government is actively looking to promote Kala Namak rice. The state government plans to create international awareness about it, as it has the potential to double the farmers’ income by 2022- one of the key promises made by PM Narendra Modi to farmers.
The over-importance of Basmati has resulted in the total cultivated area of Kala namak to come down drastically and the government is in talks with the private sector to increase the cultivation area by setting up special rice mills for this variety of rice. Yogi government is also planning to survey the farmers in the region to understand the problems faced by them while growing Kala Namak. The state government will promote it in every way possible as it will also generate more employment opportunities and improve farmers’ income.
The rice variety was given the GI tag in 2013. The Geographical Indication tag is given to a product to indicate it has a geographical point of origin. The Uttar Pradesh government has identified 11 districts in Purvanchal that will apply for the GI tag and post which it will begin exporting the Kala Namak scented rice variety to the rest of the world. This decision by Yogi government will prove to be a vital step in doubling the income of the farmers and perhaps start a revolution as India with the highest number of diabetic patients can adopt Kala namak in their everyday meals.