Scientists, exporters script $5-billion success story in basmati

Pusa-1121 and now Pusa-1509 are proof of continued vibrancy in the country’s indigenous basmati breeding programme, even as public sector farm research, in general, is seen to be floundering.

One reason for it has to do with the scientists involved in basmati varietal development working in close collaboration with farmers and the exporting community right from the start.

In 2012-13, India exported 3.46 million tonnes (mt) of basmati rice valued at $3.56 billion. During the current fiscal from April till October, 2.11 mt got shipped out fetching $2.64 billion. The latter figure could well touch $5 billion at the end of 2013-14.

Anil Kumar Mittal, CMD of KRBL Ltd, estimates the share of Pusa-1121 – a variety developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) – in total basmati exports at “70 to 75 per cent”.

Pusa-1121’s commercial success, in fact, owed a lot to KRBL. The company took the initiative to undertake large-scale multiplication of the nucleus seeds supplied by its chief breeder V.P. Singh and test-market the milled rice among prospective customers in West Asia.

KRBL further created a special India Gate Classic brand for the new basmati variety that was officially released in 2003. It took another three years for other companies to also start marketing this rice in a big way.

But the above tradition of working closely with the industry goes back even earlier from the 1970s. The focus of IARI scientists, then, was on collecting traditional basmati cultivars from farmers’ fields and screening these for uniformity of plant height, maturity and grain quality.

It is through such ‘pure line selection’ that Taraori was identified as a superior traditional variety over Basmati-370, Type-3 and Dehraduni. Taraori gained prominence when United Riceland Ltd, from 1984, began exporting it under the Tilda brand.

But the major problem with the traditional cultivars for all their unique basmati grain attributes – aroma, non-stickiness and elongation upon cooking – was very low paddy yields of around 10 quintals an acre.

“It was because the plants were tall, about 160 cm, and prone to lodging. So, you couldn’t apply fertilisers either,” said Ashok K. Singh, who now heads IARI’s basmati breeding programme.

The real breakthrough came with the release of Pusa Basmati-1 in 1989.

This was an evolved basmati derived from crossing Taraori with Pusa-150, a high-yielding non-basmati line. The aim here was to combine the distinct grain quality traits of traditional basmati with the high-yielding background of modern dwarf varieties.

Pusa Basmati-1 was only 110 cm in height, yielded 25 quintals/acre, and matured in 140 days compared with 160 days for traditional varieties.

Although the new variety had a milder aroma, its rice grains elongated to roughly 16 mm and recorded four times volume expansion on cooking, as against 14 mm and 3.5 times for Taraori.

By 2000-01, India’s basmati exports averaged 0.6-0.7 mt and worth about $450 million – 60 per cent of it from Pusa Basmati-1.

The big bang, however, happened with Pusa-1121. It had lower yields (20 quintals) and more plant height (120 cm) than Pusa Basmati-1.

But where it scored was grain elongation – 22 mm on cooking – and volume expansion: A cup of milled rice gave nearly five cups of cooked rice.

“Pusa-1121 was a hit, especially in Iran. The fact you could fill up whole plates with fewer grains was enough to trigger huge demand,” noted Mittal. Pusa-1121 today accounts for 78 per cent of India’s total basmati acreage of 1.8 million hectares. The downside: its growing susceptibility to bacterial blight, blast and brown plant hopper attacks.

“We are hoping to address these through Pusa-1509, which also has other advantages such as lower cropping duration, reduced lodging and higher yields. The grain quality is also quite comparable with that of Pusa-1121,” claimed Singh.

IARI has already tied up with some 15 companies – including Kaveri Seeds, Bioseed, Metahelix and KRBL – for multiplication of breeder and foundation seeds of Pusa-1509 under a public-private-partnership programme. “Our objective is to ensure farmers get maximum supplies ahead of the ensuing kharif planting season,” Singh added.