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Video length: 3 mins.
Basmati rice, the most fragrant, the most refined, and necessarily the most expensive, is grown in India and Pakistan. But who owns it? The two countries are fighting over the designation with the European Union.
It is a top-of-the-range, fragrant and tasty rice, basmati. Europeans consume nearly 400,000 tonnes of it per year. But do you know that it is at the heart of a rivalry between two historical enemy brothers, India and Pakistan? The two countries both claim the monopoly of its name. In northern India, in the heart of these fertile plains, Satender Ahlawat’s family has been producing it for three generations. For him it is certain, this variety of cereals is native to his lands, certainly not to neighboring Pakistan. “All I know is that what belongs to us belongs to us. And basmati rice, it’s Indian”says the rice farmer.
In Europe, Pakistani basmati dominates
This tiny grain of rice is the pride of an entire country. So New Delhi filed a request with the European Union so that only Indian rice could be sold under the name basmati. But 400 km from this rice-producing Indian region, in neighboring Pakistan, where basmati is also grown, this dispute exasperates the rice wholesalers in this village. Here, basmati is profitable, if they can no longer sell it under this name, exports will drop.
In order not to let India take the monopoly, Pakistan has also launched a request to the European Union. If this small cereal sows so much discord between the two countries, it is because the name basmati sells. Today in Europe, Pakistani basmati dominates. It accounts for two-thirds of imports of this cereal.