LAHORE - Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), in a letter to Federal Commerce Minister Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan and Federal Minister for Food Security & Research Sikander Hayat Khan Bosan, has urged them to constitute a Rice Development Board (RDB) for providing a single platform to effectively and forcefully deal with the issues - related to development and promotion of all varieties of rice grown in the country, especially the unique Basmati rice as well as regular paddy-of all the stakeholders on Board.
Vice President/Regional Chairman FPCCI Kh Zarar Kaleem argued that rice exports on an average was stuck-up at around $ 2 billion per annum mainly due to the lack of knowledge about latest research & development in the field of new rice varieties that yield more at lower cost and are acceptable to the global market.
He disclosed, “Our competitors have come up with such products due to market oriented or demand driven research in consultation with all the stakeholders (rice growers, millers, exporters, traders etc.) on one platform, whereas, on the contrary, our research has been exclusive and in isolation, either in public or private sectors”.