China seeks India's advice on rice

LUDHIANA: China, the world’s largest rice producer, has sought India’s assistance to help improve the quality of the foodgrain cultivated in that country for better acceptance in the international market.

China is also exploring the possibility of forging bilateral co-operation with India, the second largest rice producer, in this area.

A nine member Chinese delegation, led by vice-chairman standing committee of Hunan provincial People’s Congress Zhou Shichang, visited Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana, recently to learn first-hand ways to produce quality rice.
Zhou Shichang said although china was a world leader for producing rice, yet its quality of rice was not acceptable in the global market.

“We have increased our rice production through the hybrid varieties but have not been successful in improving our quality,” Shichang said, adding, “We have come here to explore the possibility of bilateral co-operation between India and China to produce international quality rice.”

According to SS Gill, director of extension education, Punjab Agricultural University: “Chinese delegates were quite surprised to see the length of the basmati rice of Punjab.”

The university briefed the delegation about the development of superfine varieties of basmati rice, which was well accepted in the global market, besides production technology being used for rice cultivation here.

China annually produces 190-195m tonne of rice in a total area of 33m hectares, while India’s rice output stands at 125m tonne per annum and its rice acreage stands at 42-43m hectares.