KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued a circular on Wednesday, providing a bigger markup subsidy and guarantee facility for rice-husking mills in Sindh.

“To help the rice-husking mills of Sindh upgrade their existing processing units, the financing limit under the subject facility has been enhanced from Rs10 million to Rs16m for those mills that intend to include mechanised dryers in their processing lines,” said the circular.

Rice-husking mills already availing the facility of up to Rs10m can acquire additional Rs6m if they intend to add mechanised dryers to their units, said the SBP.

Control of rice institutes: The Sindh government has agreed to hand over rice research institutes to rice exporters on a public-private partnership basis to improve their performance and help evolve new seed varieties.

In a meeting with the members of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap) on Wednesday, Minister for Agriculture Sohail Anwar Khan Sial said a summary will be forwarded to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah for approval.

He said the move will help activate rice research institutes, which have not been operational for the last many years. He also urged growers and rice millers to do value addition and produce rice of a better quality to help the country fetch more foreign exchange.

The Reap delegation was led by its chairman Mahmood Moulvi.

Published in Dawn October 27th, 2016