Red Rice from Assam to make inroads to Singapore

The red rice from Assam is going to be exported to Singapore soon by the ABM Agri Industry and Research Private Limited facilitated by the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART) on November 16th to Singapore. APART is a World Bank Project under the Government of Assam.

The Chief Secretary ABM Agri Industry and Research Private Limited Alhaj Sheikh Abdus Sattar said that red rice has the potential to grow even in flood water. It has good resistant power. According to him, red rice takes more time to produce. That is the reason many farmers are reluctant to produce it as well. But, Majuli has a very good production of Red Rice in spite of such issues.

According to the organisation, in Majuli District total rice area occupies 27,188 hectares with a production of 7,22,660 quintals of rice. Out of the total rice area, winter rice alone covers 19,685 hectares with the production 5,20,270 quintals.

Both Sali and Bao Dhan fall under the group of winter rice. Out of the total 19, 685 hectares of winter rice, Bao rice occupies 8500 hectares with the production of 1,53,000 quintals. Bao rice is growing in the low lying area. Out of the total Bao area about 55 percent area comes under red rice. Again, under 45 percent comes under white rice. It is estimated that the red rice area will be about 4675 hectares with the production of 84,150 quintal in Majuli District.

The Director cum Chairman and Chief Managing Director, Mohammad Mehdi Alam Choudhury stated that In comparison with the production, the market for red rice is very less as there is limited scope for the same.

Accordingly, they approached APEDA for helping them for marketing purposes. APEDA connected them with the Farmer Producers Company (FPC) called Xengramukh FPC. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ABM Agri Industry and Research Private Limited for selling Red Rice.

Along with red rice, they also have plans to sell items like ginger, garlic to Singapore, Malaysia, etc.

However, if they fail to get any feedback in foreign land, then they will prefer to confine their sale to Tamil Nadu and South India so that farmers are benefited.

Starting in August 2022 they initially did a demonstration sale of Assamese Joha and Aizong to Dubai and later Kuwait.

The group aims to sell the indigenous products like Green Tea, Mustard Oil etc to foreign land. The demand for their product has come from the Middle East like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai).

They are planning to make the products at par with the demand of the exportable standards.

The organisation is also planning to start a research unit to bring about a scientific way of cultivating red rice in Majuli. Till now the farmers were using traditional methods. The process will start from December 1 of this year. Renowned agricultural scientists like B. L Mishra will take the lead of this initiative. First, they will train the employees of ABM Agri Industry and Research Private Limited of scientific farming.

The Chief Secretary further claimed that each FPC now has 500 farmers.

The organisation has plans to export milk to Dubai as well. For this sophisticated machinery will be used. In this process, as high as 5000 farmers shall be involved.

For all export purposes, the organisation will engage as many as 16 lakh farmers, particularly from the state of Assam within the coming two years.

The main motive of the organisation is export. During this entire process of export, the existence of middle men is removed.

The farmers will get 5 percent more than the usual sale in the local market. However, along with export they will try to sell in South India as well.

Red rice is slowly becoming popular due to its nutritive and medicinal value. The rice can be used to make akhoi. Akhoi can be consumed with curd.

In Singapore, it can be used to prepare wine. The Chinese use red rice for preparing vinegar, tart, cosmetic and red kozic. Red rice yeast is used for medicinal purposes in China. Its yeast promotes blood circulation and is used for treating stomach problems, indigestion and bruised muscles. It is reported that red rice can also reduce cholesterol.

It has been found that rice bran oil has already come into the market.

In Japan, red rice is used to make coloured noodles and prepare cake for ceremonial occasions. In Sri Lanka the same variety is used as food and medicine. In Dubai, Red Rice is consumed for breakfast.

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