Black salt rice will now be available for sale on Flipkart : Sehgal
“Buddha Ka Prasad” Siddharthnagar’s ODOP product Black Salt Rice will now be available for sale on Flipkart. Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Dr. Navneet Sehgal today flagged off the first consignment of 250 kg of world famous Kalanamak rice from Siddharthnagar for sale on Flipkart. On Flipkart, FPO Kapilvastu Kisan Producer Company Limited had received an order to export 250 kg of black salt rice from Singapore.
On this occasion, Dr. Sehgal while addressing the farmers virtual said that the partnership of ODOP and Flipkart has come to a new stage. He said that the black rice of Siddharthnagar is related to Mahatma Buddha. There is a saying that when Mahatma Buddha started leaving from Siddharthnagar, he gave a rice to the local people and said that the aroma of this rice will always remind people of him. He said that through Flipkart, Kalamak rice of Siddharthnagar can be transported to the country and the world. With this, the farmers of Siddharthnagar will get good price of rice and the quality will also improve.
Dr. Sehgal said that a Common Facility Center (CFC) is under construction at Siddharthnagar under One District One Product (ODOP) scheme. As a result of setting up of CFC, necessary facilities including air-conditioned godown for storage of black rice, packaging for marketing on grading basis will be available. Apart from this, construction of another CFC is also proposed, he added. Along with this, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Varanasi will also set up a chronological research institute in Siddharth Nagar. Additional Chief Secretary Shri Sehgal said that under ODOP Marketing Assistance Scheme, participation of entrepreneurs associated with Kalanamak has been ensured in Hunar Haat organized in Lucknow, GI Product Exhibition organized in Varanasi and Noida Shilp Haat organized in Noida this year. Along with this, export of black rice is being promoted by organizing seminars etc. for FPOs and exporters in collaboration with Agricultural and Processing Food Production Export Development Authority (APEDA), Varanasi.
He said that under the ODOP funding scheme, margin money of Rs 86.81 lakh has been distributed to 40 entrepreneurs in the financial year 2020-21 so far, benefiting them. 150 beneficiaries have been benefitted under the ODOP Training and Toolkit Scheme. In order to make farmers aware of black salt, information about black salt production through organic method is being made available through field day in the black salt producing areas of the district. Similarly, Black Salt Rice Farmers Producer Organization (FPO) has been formed in 12 development blocks of the district.
Speaking on the occasion, Rajnish Kumar, Chief Corporate Officer, Flipkart said that being an indigenous e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart has always invested in creating economic opportunities for the farmers. In this direction, Flipkart has been continuously emphasizing on the use of technology to facilitate farmers’ access to markets. We are proud to offer the unique ‘Kala Namak Chawal’ of Uttar Pradesh on our Marketplace, which is part of our partnership with the Government under the ODOP initiative. We have focused on providing advanced quality products for our consumers and retailers and in the process we are also realizing FPO for the consumers by benefiting from wider access to markets to the local farmers as well. With this launch, we are taking a strong step towards establishing a truly democratic and inclusive commerce platform in association with the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
A large number of farmers including Siddharthnagar District Magistrate Deepak Meena, Chief Development Officer Pulkit Garg were involved in the program.
