“Basmati War” between India and Pakistan .. Does aromatic rice disappear forever? | economy

The conflict between India and Pakistan is escalating over the ownership of the “Basmati rice” brand in the global markets, and while India is seeking to obtain international recognition as a national product that Pakistan is strongly opposed as part of a common heritage, according to the Washington Post.

Writer Rick Nouak and Karishma Motartra said in the report published by the newspaper that a long time before this earth turned into a separate border between India and Pakistan, the farmers here were planting a valuable type of long grain rice that was required all over the world.

The authors indicated that India is seeking to give Basmati rice a position of protection in global markets as a unique Indian producer, which faces severe opposition from Pakistan, which is part of the joint heritage between the two countries.

But in the areas that are the beating heart of the cultivation of Basmati, many believe that the real threat is ignored by the leaders of the two countries, as with expectations that the global demand for Al -Basmati will reach 27 billion dollars by 2032, farmers and experts warn that this distinctive kind of rice is on the brink of extinction .

“Young farmers have lost traditional knowledge of how to preserve the purity of genes,” says Dibal Deeb, an environmental scientist who works with Indian farmers to preserve local seeds.

The two writers added that in the eighties, farmers in India and Pakistan began to grow varieties that ripen at a faster time and produce more crops, but they lacked the distinctive richness of Bassamti rice.

As small farms turned into huge agricultural projects over the following decades, rapid harvesting cycles, brief treatment methods, and soil degradation, in which climate change in part, led to the production of less aromatic rice.

“We have given up the true definition of Al -Basmati. This is suicide,” said Faisal Hassan, whose father became a national hero in Pakistan when he helped develop a famous class of Al Basmati rice in the 1960s.

The prosperity of Al -Basmati globally

The authors confirm that Al -Basmati rice is deeply linked to the Punjab region, which today includes a state in India and a neighboring region in Pakistan, where archaeologists found that early forms of it may have been planted there two thousand years ago. Likewise, written signs appeared to him since the 16th century, when the Islamic Mongol Empire ruled most of the Indian subcontinent.

“It was the food of emperors and kings,” says Raja Arslan Allah Khan, one of Pakistani rice.

Nevertheless, Al -Basmati rice did not achieve immediate global success, as it was the first importers of the most of the Middle East, then the demand for Bernani grew, in addition to the South Asian communities in Europe and the United States.

The authors added that India and Pakistan are fighting around those who have the best Basmati rice, and those who have the right to claim his name, indicating that during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, Pakistani farmers accused Indian soldiers of stealing their seeds, while India later accused its neighbor of copying its most distinctive varieties.

The authors pointed out that in recent decades, India had the upper hand in the global domination race on Basmati rice, as its marketing strategies and successful export policies exceeded Pakistan, which Sabour Ahmed described, a rice resource in Lahore, as “arrived late to the market.”

The two writers added that despite the Indian superiority, New Delhi’s attempts to consolidate its ownership of the Bassemi rice globally and its legal efforts in this regard did not make great progress, and while there is still an Indian issue in the European Union, both Australia and New Zealand rejected similar legal lawsuits.

A legacy threatened with disappearance

The authors confirm that there are no accurate numbers on the amount of traditional Basmati rice that are still planted in Pakistan, but the exporters and experts agree that most of the current production depends on the latest and the high crops.

On the other side of the border, the “Bosa Basmati 1121” variety formed about 70% of the total Basmati cultivation in the Indian state of Punjab in 2019.

The authors indicated that this trend is unlikely to be reflected. According to one of the studies, farmers made profits of $ 1400 per hectare of 1121 PB class, equivalent to more than twice the return of $ 650 they obtained from old varieties.

The authors confirm that the Pakistanis see that the Basmati rice will remain present on their tables, even if it is no longer as it was in the past. However, some consumers resorted to replacing it with cheaper varieties.