State signs four agreements for 1,000 tonnes of healthier rice worth ₹6 crore; cultivation target raised to 10,000 hectares

 

THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

BHUBANESWAR, OCTOBER 3, 2026

Odisha is positioning its emerging healthier-rice sector to cater to growing domestic and global demand for nutritious food, with Deputy Chief Minister and Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo saying the State can play a key role in meeting future global food security needs.

Speaking at the Odisha Healthier Rice Business Summit 2026 in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, Singh Deo said the State was moving beyond conventional rice cultivation towards a value-driven and farmer-centric rice economy.

 “By bringing together our farmers and FPOs with research institutions, industry and markets, we can promote healthier and nutritious rice, strengthen value addition and create better income opportunities for our farmers,” he said.

The summit, organised jointly by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment (DA&FE) and the Department of Mission Shakti, in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and ORMAS, brought farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), women-led producer groups, private processors, researchers and buyers onto a common platform.

The State is currently promoting nutrient-dense varieties, including low-GI and ultra-low-GI rice, high-protein and micronutrient-rich varieties, as well as traditional aromatic rice such as Kalajeera. With technical support from IRRI and the Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology (OUAT), the area under such crops is proposed to increase from around 1,200 hectares to 10,000 hectares over the next four to five years.

The summit also marked the emergence of a commercial market for healthier rice, with four MoUs, Letters of Intent and purchase orders signed during the programme. The agreements represent business commitments for approximately 1,000 metric tonnes of healthier rice valued at ₹6 crore.

The participating enterprises and producer organisations included KisaanSay, Bijaylaxmi Agro, Jaivik Sri FPC of Koraput and Loisingha W-FPC of Balangir.

Singh Deo said the government would provide the infrastructure, policy support and institutional convergence required to take healthier rice from farms to national and global markets, with farmers remaining the primary beneficiaries of the emerging value chain.

The State is also developing a Specialty Rice and Millet facility to support advanced processing and value addition, aimed at strengthening the commercial ecosystem around nutrient-rich crops.

The summit featured discussions on supply-chain integration, traceability, quality assurance and market scalability. DA&FE Commissioner-cum-Secretary Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav, OUAT Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pravat Kumar Roul and Indian Rice Export Federation Director General Mohammad Sultan, besides representatives of the Embassy of Madagascar and commercial importers, participated in the deliberations.

The initiative seeks to connect research, production, processing and markets while creating new opportunities for farmers and producer organisations and positioning Odisha’s healthier rice for wider domestic and international markets.