At the annual general meeting, Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF), a registered society founded by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has decided to organise a workshop with stakeholders for increasing the share of organic Basmati rice. It was also decided to encourage the exporters for value addition and product diversification.
BEDF has set up state-of-the-art laboratory with facilities for DNA finger printing for variety identification of Basmati rice and testing of pesticide residue, aflatoxins and heavy metals. The laboratory and demonstration and training farm has been set up at the campus of SVP University of Agriculture and Technology, Modipuram.
The activities of the foundation are focused on strengthening the supply chain for export of Basmati rice.
Basmati rice is the largest agro product for export from India. During 2019-20, India exported 4.45 million metric tonne (MT) of Basmati rice with value of US$ 4,331 million. Over last 10 years, Basmati rice exports have more than doubled. During 2009-10 the export of Basmati rice was of the order of 2.17 million MT. The major markets are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, European Union and United States. Basmati rice is registered with Geographical Indication (GI).
