Karachi - The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has appreciated the initiative and thanked the Sindh government for the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF) which has been established to promote agri-business value addition in the province. SEDF primarily provides interest rate subsidies for credit obtained from bank to set up agro based value addition projects.
Mehboob ul Haq the chief executive officer (CEO) of SEDF said the Balancing, Modernisation and Replacement (BMR) Scheme for rice millers in Sindh is sponsored by Government of Sindh under the patronage of State Bank of Pakistan. (SBP) The scheme offers subsidised mark up of 2.75pc on loans up to Rs 10 million for up-gradation and modernisation of rice mills in Sindh province.
Unisame president Zulfiqar Thaver said SME rice millers can benefit from this initiative of Sindh government under the SEDF scheme and replace their orthodox system with modern plants and also make steamed rice.
He invited the acting chairman of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Chelaram KK to use his good office in promoting BMR in Sindh and uplift the parboiling units of Sindh.
Unisame has offered help to SME rice millers in filing their application without any obligation and emphasised the need for the parboiling plants to modernise their units to meet global challenges.
Parboiled and steamed rice are in great demand in Gulf and Middle East countries and over the last few years due to high cost of production the millers in Sindh have discontinued the parboiling of rice and switched over to white rice but now with subsidised finance from SEDF the parboiling units would again be feasible.