ZAHID BAIG

LAHORE: Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) is planning to hold a two-day mega event named as ‘REAP Rice Conference 2018’ at Larkana in a bid to optimize the rice sector by bringing all stakeholders in the rice supply chain on board.

The conference which has been planned by the end of current month is the brainchild of REAP Chairman Safder Hussain Mehkri is aimed at to provide a platform to all the stakeholders to discuss the challenges being faced by this sector and seek a way out of it.

REAP Senior Vice Chairman Ali Hussam Asghar told Business Recorder here on Monday that their organisation is the 2nd largest export trade body duly and its members are contributing more than US$ 2.2 billion in the government kitty. He said that the REAP high ups had planned this conference to discuss challenges faced by the each partner and collectively find solutions and their implementation methodology for a better tomorrow.

Target audience of this conference will be farmers, representative bodies of the growers and other stakeholders, millers, exporters agriculture input companies, seed research and development companies, machinery manufacturers, financial institutions and other stakeholders. Rice is grown in all provinces of Pakistan under diverse agro-climatic conditions. The average yield of rice is comparatively low. Three is a need to improve the yields through evolving high yielding varieties and improving production technologies and this conference will also pave way for it, Ali hoped.

Talking about the significance of selecting Larkana for this conference, Ali said that long grain rice (IRRI) contribute 75 per cent of the total export of the country in which Larkana participates more than 45 per cent. He said that whole belt is very significant with regarding to production of rice and its export while a lot of companies were also involved in research to produce high yielding and climate change resistant varieties.