Research for rich rice

Rich rice

On the other hand, some areas of the districts of Mymensigha, Rajshahi and Dinajpur have long been the hinterland of fine and aromatic rice like Katarivogh, Chinigura and Kalizira. They are mostly consumed during festivals almost by all classes of people but on a regular basis by the richer section of the community. Fine and aromatic rice is also being supplied to posh hotels. Reportedly, Bangladesh imports roughly 50 thousand tons of fine and aromatic rice (worth about USD 25 million) each year from neighbouring countries. According to experts, few of the fine and aromatic varieties grown in Bangladesh could comfortably compete with 'basmati' rice for which India and Pakistan have the monopoly to mould international market. In fact, some enterprising exporters have already started vying for exporting FAG rice and, in the meantime, about 100 tons have so far been exported, we are told. It is being opined that given proper knowledge about varieties, know-how to grow, marketing channels and initial incentives, Bangladesh could easily capture 15-20 per cent of the world market for FAG rice in future. This would, perhaps, mean no mean an achievement given the fact that 100 per cent of the value addition on this count would emerge domestically. On the other hand, the domestic demand would also go up pari passu the rise in per capita income. According to the famous Engle's law, income elasticity of demand for coarse rice would decline with a rise in income demanding more of these varieties of rice.

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Finding FAG rice

Appreciably, two of the NGOs in Bangladesh have been trying to encourage farmers to grow FAG rice. Interestingly, these institutions supplied seeds and fertilizers on experimental basis to some of the 'resource poor' farmers of Habigonj, Moulavi Bazar and Rajshahi districts. The Poverty Elimination Through Rice Research Assistance (PETRRA) Project of IRRI and DFID tends to support the partners. However, my own interest of research lay in seeing to what extent and how marginal farmers would behave in the event that growing FAG rice mostly means catering to the market needs. Because, poor farmers could hardly afford to grow such expensive varieties (almost twice the price of coarse rice) only for home consumption. The issue of the niche between the marginal farms and the markets appeared as an interesting topic to me. I, therefore, made up my mind to visit few of the spots where marginal farmers have been induced to go for FAG production. Regrettably though, the remarks presented below are not of a researcher related to rice but that of a traveler telling something on the heels of hectic parleys.

HEED and seed

Health, Education and Economic Development -- HEED -- is an NGO working in Greater Sylhet district for a long time. The heads of HEED told me about their project and invited me to visit some of the farmers experimenting with the new source of survival. HEED took up the challenge and provided the farmers with seeds free of cost. They collected seeds of 16 varieties of FAG rice from different parts of the country and supplied them to the farmers. In the demonstration plots, however, HEED paid for both seeds and fertilizers. The farmers are 'resource poor farmers' with cultivable land upto 100 decimals, options to work in others' land and food provisions for 6-7 months from own farms. A total of 40 farmers have been selected to test the new technology.

During the discourse, the sample farmers that I met in Greater Sylhet zone expressed their satisfaction over experiment with FAG rice. They cultivate Katarivogh, Rataboro, Parbat Jira, BRRIdhan 34, Khasra etc. devoting, on average, 10-40 decimals of land in last aman and boro season. For some of them, the opportunity cost of growing FAG rice was zero since fallow lands were used to grow crops and for others, it was very low since earlier crops were grown on lands which used to grow low yield aus. By and large, the farmers expressed their desire to double the land availability in the next season leaning mainly on the following lessons. First, there are various varieties of FAG rice that farmers have been told about and they are ready to accept them. Second, the yield rates of FAG and course rice are almost the same. In the event that coarse rice has an yield advantage, FAG rice holds the price advantage by a big margin ( market price is two to two and half times alternative rice). Third, FAG rice could be an important source of cash needs of farmers where cash crops are difficult to grow.

Attempts by APPEX

In greater Rajshahi district, another NGO called APPEX has also been involved in inducing farmers to grow fine and aromatic rice. Following PETRRA-perspectives, it has selected some resource poor farmers. The sample farmers tested BRRIdhan 37 and 38 in their small parcels of land. The farmers informed us that growing FA rice has benefited them. Some of them had already explored the demand in the local market. A private miller named Raj Automatic Rice Mill is reportedly have decided to buy FA rice from the poor farmers at a price higher by Tk. 10 per maund. Besides, the sample farmers also informed me that more farmers expressed their desire to grow FA rice. Specially, BRRIdhan 37 is being considered better than Katarivogh in terms of yield and fineness. Some poor farmers who grew FA rice informed that they bought goat and calves by selling FA rice.

It appeared to me that in both Sylhet and Rajshahi zones, poor farmers welcomed FAG rice as a source of cash resources for buying cash-intensive inputs for boro crops. Again, the opportunity costs of cultivating FAG rice is reported to be lower than other varieties of rice and more importantly, the yield disadvantage is more than compensated by the price advantage that FAG rice is faced with. The observations are borne out by the fact that all of them targeted to increase the area under FAG rice in the ensuing seasons by a respectable margin.

FAG and the fog

However, wishes are not horses. Noticeably, there are few fogs before the FAG rice. First, there is a knowledge gap rank and file. Policy makers, producers and purchasers tend to know little about the economics of FAG rice. Some call it rich but risky rice. Second, milling is a major problem. Traditional mills account for a sizeable portion of the system loss for FAG rice and hence special mills for FAG rice is needed. Second, marketing channels are at nascent stage. The marketing networks that we come across are created to cater to the needs of the coarse rice. Third, poor farmers can sell their coarse rice throughout the year and thus can take care of the cash needs whenever necessary. But FAG rice can be sold only during festivals. Again, fine and aromatic rice are being bought in bulk by few traders so much so that small sellers have no berth in the business. And finally, there is lack of publicity about the quality and price of FAG rice in the international market.

Policy for promotion

The government has to take into cognizance the importance of FAG rice in the economic uplift of poor farmers as well as in earning or saving foreign exchange. To this effect, the following policy options could be on board to increase the supply of FAG rice. First, various varieties of FAG rice should be made available to farmers through extension networks. Special attention needs to be given to areas where the opportunity costs of growing such rice is either zero or low. Mapping cropping patterns in different areas could easily do that. Second, at the initial stage, the government should invest in buying mills or help private sector with credit to establish mills. Third, the government should subsidise farmers and traders -- for a period of time to come -- for exporting FAG in the international market. It may be mentioned here that in India, rice exports are subsidised. Fourth, to start with, contract growers should be identified and special preference should be given to poor farmers.

Concluding remarks

Quite contrary to the common notions, fine and aromatic rice has a growing market in the economy. Our presumption is that given proper incentives, Bangladesh could also capture a portion of the international market for 'Basmati' rice or at least substitute imports of fine and aromatic rice through domestic production. That could save a portion of our hard earned foreign exchange. But to that effect, we would require, inter alia, technology, training, milling and marketing facilities and on occasions, cash incentives. However, we suggest that more researches be carried out on rich rice before embarking on the growth of FAG rice. Perhaps, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and our prestigious national organisation, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) could come forward in this regard.

Abdul Bayes is professor of economics, Jahangirnagar University