Tweak FCI's procurement strategies to boost rice exports: Expert panel

Rice is among the biggest agriculture exports from India along with buffalo meat and cotton

For boosting India’s non-basmati rice exports, the government needs to ensure that a higher pool of surplus rice is available to exporters by suitably modifying Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) procurement strategies, a high-powered panel of experts on agriculture exports said.

The panel was constituted by the 15th Finance Commission (FFC) to suggest measurable performance incentives for States to encourage agriculture exports as well as to promote crops that can help in high import substitution.

It comprised of senior representatives from the industry, academicians and former bureaucrats.

The panel said FCI is the largest buyer of rice in the domestic