Chandigarh: Over the past three decades, India’s Basmati rice exports have witnessed a remarkable surge — skyrocketing from Rs 290 crore in 1991 to Rs 38,000 crore today, as data by Kolkata-based Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) shows.
However, with plans to phase out the export favourite ‘Pusa Basmati (PB) 1121’ and replace it with a new variety known as ‘PB-1885’, the industry is headed for a significant shift.
Known for its exceptionally long grains — ranging between 2 to 2.5 cm — and an unmistakable aroma, the PB-1121 is among the most sought-after Basmati varieties for export, with most going to the US, Canada, the Middle-East and European countries.
However, the PB-1121 will now slowly be replaced with the newer PB-1885 since, because of the weakening of its gene pool, the former has become prone to diseases like bacterial blight, fungal infection and rice blast fungus.
Dr Ashok Kumar Singh, Director, Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), also known as Pusa Institute, a premier institute under the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), told ThePrint, “This is a normal phenomenon in agriculture that any variety when grown over large areas becomes susceptible to various kinds of pest infestations and bacterial, fungal, and viral infections. PB-1121 itself came as an improved variety of PB-1.”
However, since such infections force farmers to use more bactericides and fungicides, export of the PB-1121 has become difficult. Due to the European Union’s tough norms regarding fungicide residue levels, India’s Basmati consignments have been returned in the past.
According to Singh, today 95 per cent of the total Basmati exported by India is of the three varieties — PB-1121, PB-1509, and PB-1401, all developed by IARI. For exports, he said, the PB-1121 is the most sought-after variety, though “exporters on occasion mix in the rice from the other two varieties, too, because they are often cheaper than the first”.
Rice exporters are worried. They feel it will take some time before the newer varieties get the same acceptance among importers.
Speaking to ThePrint on condition of anonymity, a rice exporter from Taraori in Haryana’s Karnal, said it took the exporters two decades to build PB-1121 as an international brand. “A sudden change in the name of the variety can affect our exports adversely,” he added.
Nathi Ram Gupta, President of the All India Rice Exporters Association, said that after some initial hiccups of two or three years, they hope that the new variety PB-1885 will get the same acceptance because it is basically the improved version of PB-1121.
Vijay Setia, the past president of the association, has welcomed the new varieties since, he said to ThePrint, these will prove beneficial for farmers thanks to their high yield and resistance to pests.
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Why are old varieties being phased out?
Introduced in 2003 by the Delhi State Variety Release committee, the PB-1121 was later recognised by the Central Variety Release Committee in 2008 for cultivation in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Later, two new varieties — PB-1401 and PB-1509 — with better yield and requiring fewer days for maturing were also released, but their use remained restricted to the domestic market.
Similar replacement varieties, PB-1886 and PB-1847, have also come for PB-1401 and PB-1509, respectively.
Singh, who along with his team at IARI has developed these new varieties, said, “All these are improved varieties with resistance to both bacterial blight and blast diseases” which cause significant yield losses as well as affect the Basmati grain and cooking quality. These infections, he added, are managed by the use of chemicals like streptocycline and tricyclazole.
“Over the years, farmers have been forced to spend money on pesticides and fungicides, putting the Basmati produced this way at risk of rejection from European countries due to their stern residue levels norms,” Singh added.
In the past years, he added, concerns have been raised by the importing nations of the use of some chemicals in Basmati rice. The EU allows a maximum residue level (MRL) of 0.01 ppm (parts per million) for tricyclazole, one of the most commonly used fungicides in managing rice blast.
“All these reasons put together called for an urgent need to address this issue in order to maintain the leading position in the international trade of Basmati rice,” Singh added.
On the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar had tasked ICAR to address the concerns.
Last year, before the Kharif sowing season, the IARI had distributed 1 kg per acre seeds of the newly-developed disease-resistant Basmati rice for free to some progressive farmers in the rice-growing region of Haryana and Punjab. Later, in September, IARI organised a ‘Kisan Sampark Yatra’ to get the farmers’ feedback.
The response from the farmers, said Singh, was very good as the crop was found free from infection, its general health was excellent and farmers could get good remunerative prices for their crop in the market.
In March this year, the IARI organised a three-day Krishi Vigyan Mela. According to Singh, the mela was attended by farmers from Punjab and Haryana who travelled to the capital to purchase seeds of improved varieties. “The process of phasing out old varieties, though slow, is a natural one. As more farmers opt for the new and improved varieties, other farmers from their villages will see its benefits too,” said Singh.
“This happened with PB-1. And though a few farmers are still cultivating it, it doesn’t account for more than 5 per cent of the total Basmati cultivation now,” he added.
Journey of Basmati rice varieties in India
Efforts to develop high-yield varieties of Basmati were initiated in 1960 under the leadership of M.S. Swaminathan, the agriculture scientist also known as the ‘father of the green revolution’, said Dr Ashok Kumar Singh.
In 1989, the IARI introduced PB-1, the first semi-dwarf, photoperiod-insensitive, and high-yielding Basmati variety in India with the efforts of renowned agriculture scientist Professor E.A. Siddiq.
“When PB-1 was introduced, farmers named it the karza phaad (debt-tearing) variety. Because of its much higher yield than the traditional Basmati, farmers found it highly profitable and believed it would help them pay off their debts,” said Singh.
In 2003, Prof V.P. Singh — who was later conferred the Padma Shri — with his team of scientists, developed the PB-1121 variety. Meanwhile, another variety PB-1401 was also developed in 2008 by crossing PB-1 and PB-1121 varieties. The PB-1401 got its seed awning character from PB-1 variety and elongation from PB-1121.
PB-1509 came in 2013 with Dr Ashok Kumar Singh being the lead breeder. This variety has seed-to-seed duration of 120 days against PB-1121’s 145 days and PB-1’s 135 days.
“PB-1509 provides farmers with an opportunity to grow an additional crop of peas or potatoes on their lands when it is free after harvesting the paddy and has time left for the Rabi crop,” Singh explained.
Going by the yield, PB-1121 gives the least yield of nearly 20 quintals per acre against 25 quintals each for PB-1 and PB-1509, and 28 to 30 quintals for PB-1401 variety.
About the new & improved varieties
According to Singh, whenever there is a pest infestation or fungal attack on a crop, it is reflected in the length of the lesions that develop on the leaves. A formula is then applied to the average length of the lesions to calculate the crop’s susceptibility index. If the susceptibility index is between 1 and 3, it is taken as having resistance to the disease; 3-5 is considered moderately resistant; anything higher comes under the susceptible category.
PB-1847, an improved version of PB-1509, has inbuilt resistance to bacterial blight and blast disease developed through molecular marker-assisted breeding. PB-1847 is highly resistant to blast disease (susceptibility index of 2.5) as compared to PB-1509 (of 7.0). It also exhibits a highly resistant reaction against bacterial blight disease (3.0 on the index) as compared to PB-1509 (7.0).
PB-1885, improved version of PB-1121, also features inbuilt resistance to bacterial blight and blast diseases. It has semi-tall plant stature with extra-long slender grains and cooking quality similar to PB-1121. A medium-duration Basmati rice variety with seed-to-seed maturity of 135 days, PB-1885’s susceptibility index for blast disease is 2.3, compared to that of PB-1121 (7.3). It also exhibits a highly resistant reaction against bacterial blight disease (3.3) as compared to the highly susceptible PB-1121.
PB-1886 is the improved version of PB-1401 and possesses two genes for bacterial blight resistance and two genes for blast resistance. It is highly resistant to blast disease (susceptibility index of 2.5) as compared to PB1401 (8.5). Further, it also exhibits very high resistance against bacterial blight (3.3) as compared to PB-1401 (7.3).
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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