Karnal to have Centre of Excellence for basmati

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 12

After Israel, Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) will assist the Haryana government in setting up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for basmati in Karnal, offering farmers a competitive edge.

The Centre would endeavour to build capacity among farming community while leveraging technology and innovation to improve productivity and quality. It will focus on introducing efficiencies across the supply chain.

This will be the third CoE to be established in the state after the centre for vegetables in Karnal and centre for fruits in Sirsa under Indo-Israel project. Proper implementation and adaptation of Israeli technologies have already benefitted thousands of farmers in the state, resulting in rise in their incomes. 

The CoE will be set up by the Agriculture Department. Earlier, the two centres were established by the Horticulture Department.

“The basmati farmers in the state are confronting with issues such as contamination, pesticides and presence of heavy metals. The centre will assist the farmers with latest technology which will not only ensure better productivity but also ensure quality. Recently, we had a meeting with IRRI officials and they have agreed in-principle to set up the centre at Karnal,” said Dr Suresh Gehlawat, additional director, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Haryana.

The proposed centre is likely to be spread over 20 acres and will have fields for conducting research, labs, administrative buildings and other infrastructure. The Haryana government will provide land and other infrastructure whereas the IRRI would deploy technology to facilitate farmers.

According to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) data, in Haryana total area under basmati cultivation was 6.34 lakh hectares and production was 21.38 lakh tonnes in 2018. 

However, this year the area under cultivation is likely to increase by 10-20% due to robust demand in domestic and international markets.

Haryana has the largest area under basmati in the country and together with Punjab it accounts for more than 75-80% of basmati exports from the country.

According to agriculture officials, the objective behind development of the centre is to improve the quality of basmati with minimum use of chemicals.