[caption id="attachment_8307" align="aligncenter" width="1014"]
File Photo[/caption]
Mr. Alaa Khalil, director of the Field Crops Research Institute at Egypt's Ministry of Agriculture, said on Saturday evening (August 21, 2021) that Egypt would start cultivating Basmati rice next year.
In media remarks to "Al-Masry Effendi" talk show on "Al-Mehwar" T.V., Mr. Khalil said scientists have managed to produce other varieties that consume less water while maintaining productivity.
The old varieties of rice used to consume 7,000 to 8,000 cubic meters of water per feddan, while the new varieties consume 5,000 cubic meters, he added.
Egypt imports basmati rice from Asian countries, with more than $100 million, said Mr. Hamdi Mawafi, an expert at the Field Crops Research Institute in media remarks to El-Aard website in September 2020.
Basmati is a variety of long, slender-grained aromatic rice which is traditionally grown in India, Nepal and Pakistan. As of 2019, India accounted for 65% of the international trade in basmati rice, while Pakistan accounted for the remaining 35%. Many countries use domestically grown basmati rice crops; however, basmati is geographically exclusive to certain districts of India and Pakistan.
According to the Indian Government agency APEDA, a rice variety is eligible to be called basmati if it has a minimum average precooked milled rice length of 6.61 mm (0.260 in) and average precooked milled rice breadth of up to 2 mm (0.079 in), among other parameters.
Source: Online/KSU
Comment Now