Telangana lacks policy on bringing value addition to farm produce

Hyderabad: Is lack of a comprehensive policy on agriculture allied and food industries turning the State not being able to bring value addition to paddy by-products?

If goings-on are any indication, apart from making traditional snacks with rice flour, the State is lacking facilities to extract rice bran oil, despite 2,600 rice mills, 1,000 exclusively engaged in boiled rice production.

Against the backdrop of the Centre's policy of not procuring para boiled rice from Telangana, rice millers say, "It is unviable for Telangana to insist on procurement of para boiled rice, when the production is not moving in the market or not viable for distribution through FCI." The main objective in producing para boiled rice is to avoid the higher yield ratio of broken rice during the rabi paddy.

Speaking to The Hans India, Nintin Reddy, (name changed), a rice miller from Karimnagar, said broken rice could be supplied for ethanol units. "There is a set target of 10 per cent ethanol as an alternative to crude oil to reduce burden of foreign exchange spend on cured oil." Against this backdrop, the broken rice could be procured at even Rs 15 a kg for supplying to ethanol-making units.

Similarly, the State produces about 36 lakh tonnes of paddy husk, equivalent to about 40 lakh tonnes of coal of 'B' and 'C' grade with about 3,600 calorific value. It is used in brick industry.

It is also an alternative source for silica used in tyre industries. Every by-product of paddy brings value addition.

The State government should put in place a comprehensive policy to identify the number of value-added products that each agriculture crop cultivated. And, factor to encourage the food and other industries in the MSME sector to produce value-added products. This would not only address thorny issues like broken rice and para boiled rice, but also will help optimum utilisation of agriculture produce in Telangana with value-added products. It would not only create employment, but also fetch remunerative prices to farmers, said a member of Telangana State Rice Millers' Association.