Chandauli’s famed organicblack rice shipped to Oman

Varanasi: The global market of black rice, one of the finest quality scented varieties from Chandauli, is growing further as a consignment of the famous variety left for Doha, the capital of Qatar, from here on Wednesday.
The consignment, comprising 12 metric tonne of black rice and 520 metric tonne of another variety Samba, produced in Chandauli, left for Gujarat in three trucks.From Gujarat it will go to Doha by sea route.
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) chairman Dr M Angamuthu and divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal flagged off the consignment at a function in Harahua.
Angamuthu said various measures are being taken for increasing export of agriculture produce from east UP by using Varanasi as a hub. Flowers from this region will also be exported, he said adding that these steps will help in doubling the income of farmers.
Commissioner Agarwal said the good quality of farm produce of the region is increasing exports to new markets.
“In June 2018, chemicals-free black rice was cultivated for the first time in Chandauli by 30 farmers in 10 hectare and 300 quintal was produced. More farmers were trained in cultivating black rice without chemical fertilizers and pesticides and in 2019-20, 400 farmers cultivated it in 250 hectares producing 8,000 quintals of black rice,” said commissioner.
In June, a consignment of black rice grown in Chandauli, known as the rice bowl of east UP, had been procured by a firm for export to Australia.
“Black rice from Chandauli is being purchased in bulk by export firms.
The minimum support price announced by the government for rice is below Rs 2,000 per quintal, while in the open market it gets upto Rs 2,500 as per demand. But, the export firm purchased black rice for Rs 8,500 per quintal, which is almost four times than the MSP of last kharif crop, said Agarwal. Samba rice was purchased by an export firm through a farm producer organisation on MSP.
The export of agricultural produce from the east UP region has started in the last nine months.
On April 23, despite Covid-19 lockdown, a consignment of four tonne green vegetables, including chillies, cucumber and gourd, was exported to London, said APEDA AGM CB Singh.
Besides, mangoes of Banarasi Langda, Dussehri and other varieties were exported to Dubai and London in May, he added.
“Oman government’s logistics company, Asyad, has also taken stock of many farms to see the quality of vegetables for procuring them. APEDA office will become operational in Varanasi from Thursday,” Singh added.