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Once the paddy has left the farm, it enters the domain
of the post-production sector. The people involved in
the post-production sector are not usually farmers
themselves. They are entrepreneurs who invest in
technology. In Asia, most work as part of a small family
business. The key players in the post-production sector
are the traders, the processors, the wholesalers and the
retailers. These entrepreneurs are profit driven, and
respond to market forces. They form a business
network, and the marketing economists view this
network as a marketing system. The post-production
technologies are the tools of their trade.
The development of technology to process rice and
deliver it from the farmers to the consumers, has not
kept pace with the developments in the farm production
sector. In last few decades, rice-processing industry has
grown up exponentially in terms of facilities and quality
output. But at the same time, under-utilization of plant
capacity does not make this enterprise more
remunerative to small entrepreneurs. Modern rice plants
are well equipped with latest technology whether it is
cleaning, drying, milling, colour sorting, packaging etc.,
and are in position to export both basmati and non-
basmati superfine rice to Gulf as well as other countries
of the world.
There are modern rice processing companies in India
which are not only producing high quality basmati rice
for export but these are also making efficient use of its
by-product to make these units more sustainable. There
is a need to educate people or persons who are directly
involved with post-production management of rice to
use latest energy efficient technologies to produce
product or by-product from rice varieties at reasonable
price. These mills are largely power self sufficient and
produce rice bran which itself is very valuable by-
product for extraction of rice bran oil (RBO) and other
derivatives some of which are of highly value for
pharma applications.