Minister Niranjan Reddy bats for branding Telangana Sona Rice

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy released a report on 'Marketing Strategy for Telangana Sona Rice', a study conducted by the Indian School of Business, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) and Department of Agriculture, Government of Telangana.

The study was conducted to create a marketing and branding plan to raise awareness of the Telangana Sona Rice variety. The report points out that the awareness about Telangana Sona Rice was low when compared to other popular brands even though its benefits were much superior to other rice brands. The report stated that 'health' and 'taste' are two attributes that consumers consider important while buying rice.

The report recommended an awareness strategy by involving digital and TV influencers and grocery stores. It suggested for branding Telangana Sona Rice as a healthy as well as a tasty alternative to daily consumption of rice.

Telangana Sona Rice is a paddy variety developed by PJTSAU. It has unique features like distinctive flavour, higher protein composition, carbohydrates, energy, Vitamin B3 and low glycemic index. It is also a climate-smart variety and is suitable for both Kharif and Rabi seasons. It is fine-grain, high-yielding, good quality and has high blast resistance. It is advantageous for farmers as it grows in a relatively shorter time.

Talking about the report and the importance of the study, Niranjan Reddy stressed the need to deal with both demand and supply carefully and create the required balance through proper branding and marketing strategy. He expressed that he was happy to release the report and urged ISB to conduct more such studies for other government innovated products like red gram, Palamuru Palli and Telangana cotton.

Agriculture Secretary Dr Janardhan Reddy opined that the collaboration between the State government, PJTSAU and ISB was first of its kind to market government innovated products. A marketing strategy was the need of the hour for the last mile connectivity.

Dr V Praveen Rao, vice-chancellor, PJTSAU said that there was a need to have a strategy for 5-10 years of an action plan to strengthen the brand. The partnership with ISB would certainly help in this regard.

Professor Rajendra Srivastava, Dean ISB said, "For successful outcome of any product innovation, it is important to have a good marketing strategy. This is best possible through collaborations. It is heartening to see that a strong partnership between ISB, PJTSAU and Department of Agriculture emerged to bridge the gap between public sector innovations and a marketing strategy." He congratulated the State government and PJTSAU for the important initiative. "ISB will be happy to bring the academic rigour into public sector decision-making," he added.