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Rice Paddy

Rice is a dietary staple of more than half of the world's human population, making it the most consumed cereal grain.

Enhancing Rice Milling Productivity in India

31 August 2006

The Commonwealth is assisting rice millers in the South Indian state of Kerala in enhancing their productivity and market competitiveness.

Rice technologist Dr Rama Rao V Vellanki -- who is funded by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) -- is working with the Kalady Rice Millers Consortium (KRMC) to create by-products and value-added products from rice. Already, a new brand of rice known as ‘Leads Rice’ has been developed.

The CFTC project was launched through an initiation programme held in Kalady, a historical region of Kerala, on 11 August 2006 and was followed by the foundation laying for the refinery. The project complements a £735,000 Government of India initiative to establish a rice bran oil refinery in Kalady.

KRMC has helped regenerate the economic activity in Kalady, which until a decade ago had no agro-processing facilities. Through KRMC’s regeneration activities, a common facilities centre and a mill store for rice millers in the area have been established.

The consortium works directly with farmers in the region to ensure that they obtain fair prices for their produce. The Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) is augmenting CFTC’s assistance by providing business advisory services to KRMC to make its products export-enabled.

According to George Saibel, Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Special Advisory Services Division, which is managing the project: “KRMC can serve as an innovative model across the Commonwealth for small and medium enterprise (SME) networking in general and agro-processing in particular. At the end of this project, we hope to showcase the KRMC as a good example of the benefits of SME collaboration.”

Expressing gratitude on behalf of the 40-member consortium, N P Anthony, KRMC’s Managing Director, said: “The expertise being provided through CFTC resources will immensely assist us in improving our products and accessing new markets.”

K Muthukumaran, Chief General Manager, EXIM Bank, stated: “Given the thrust placed by EXIM Bank on the small and medium enterprises sector, as also our focus in supporting the agriculture and agro-processing sectors, we are happy to work with CFTC and KRMC on this initiative.”

This project is part of the £370,000 Commonwealth-India Small Business Competitiveness Development Programme -- a pan-Commonwealth institutional capacity-building initiative jointly being undertaken by the Secretariat and the Government of India’s Ministries of Small Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industry.

 

CNIS - Commonwealth News and Information Service, Issue 300, 30 August 2006

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