Participation in tender: Rice exporters urge government to take up matter with Qataris

Rice exporters have urged the federal government to negotiate with Qatari authorities to ensure Pakistan's participation in the international rice tender, issued for import of 48,000 tons of rice.

The federal government should take up rice origin issue with Qatari authorities so that Pakistan could participate in the international rice tender and earn foreign exchange for the country, they added.

The 3rd meeting of FPCCI Standing Committee on Rice was held Thursday at the Federation House. The meeting was convened by Rafique Suleman, Convener of the committee.

During the meeting, Suleman expressed his gratitude to Abdul Razzak Dawood, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and his team at MINCOM for their efforts for re-opening of Qatar market for Pakistani rice exporters after long time. As a result, first tender of Qatar was issued for 4,000 metric tons of rice and successfully awarded to a Pakistan origin company.

However, it was surprising that the 2nd tender of Qatar CTC for 48,000 metric tons entailed a condition, ie, for India origin only, after which Pakistani exporters are unable to participate in the tender.

Therefore, he has requested the federal government to take up the matter with relevant Qatari authorities to add Pakistan origin in the recently issued Qatar rice import tender and future tenders.

He said as the rice variety belongs to both India and Pakistan, therefore the tender should not be origin specific to provide a fair level playing field. The addition of Pakistani origin in the tender will also create a competition in the market and ultimately Qatar will be beneficiary in shape of quality and price, he added.

Rafique Suleman informed the meeting about the new revolutionary rice seed namely, Green Super Rice (GSR) which is very low cost and needs less quantity of water. Its input and yield is better than other rice seeds.

He said that after the consistent efforts of Rice Exporters Association GSR seed was distributed to farmers for sowing in this season and recently a delegation of REAP's Senior Members along with Dr. Muhammad Arif Senior Scientist from NIBGE Faisalabad,. Nadeem Shah Vice President Sindh Abadgar Board and Director General National Institute of Agriculture Tando Jam and Other officials visited various rice fields in Sindh Province to check the progress of this seed.

"It is very good to see that the results were satisfactory and encouraging and we will be having good quality of rice this year. Nadeem Shah also commented that a rice seed having 75-80 maunds per acre yield is considered as a good but GSR seed is looking far better than conventional seeds," he added.

Convener of FPCCI Committee informed that during the visit of Nuclear Institute of Agriculture (NIA) Tando Jam, its team briefed about the another rice seed called Shandaar. This is another conventional seed which has given good results. Commercial trials for this seed are also in the process after which it will be available to the farmer.

Rafiq Suleman also appreciated the efforts of NIA for the betterment of the farmer and their role in agricultural development in Pakistan.

Muhammad Raza senior vice chairman Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) endorsed that GSR seed is heat tolerant and despite very low quantity of water and other inputs its yield is amazing. This project was funded by Malinda & Bill Gates Foundation for the distribution among under developed countries including Pakistan.

He was of the view that our aim should be to spread this seed as much possible. He also suggested to take REAP's Representative on the board of Rice Research institutes and all technical departments of Pakistan. He proposed to start a training course with the joint collaboration of Kala Shah Kaku Rice Research Institute & REAP to arrange awareness workshops for rice related subject.

Kazim Khandwala and Faisal Anis also seconded the views of Muhammad Raza. It was also decided that a REAP delegation will visit to Rice Research Institute at Dokri (Larkana) very soon for better interaction with relevant Government officials.

The meeting was also attended by Shiraz Shaikh REAP's Managing Committee Member, Faisal Anis, Kazim Khandwala, Sufiyan Rahim, Shoaib Rauf, Noman Arif, Jatender Kumar and other leading rice exporters. Various matters related to rice export trade were also discussed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019