KARACHI, July 9: The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) on Saturday held a meeting with managing committee members of the Pakistan Rice Syndicate (PRS) to finalize a strategy for the upgradation of rice mills in Sindh.

The PRS chief organizer Abdul Aziz Ghaffar gave a detailed presentation on the present state of affairs and pinpointed how due to backward methods the paddy was staining grains which are becoming discoloured and being depreciated in value.

Smeda provincial chief Ijaz Majeed, who as assisted by his managers Muslim Raza and Naresh Kumar, assured all-out assistance in removing such irritants and said that concrete and joint efforts would be needed to over come such problems, which required not only financial but also technical assistance.

Mr Ghaffar said that processors were making payment after deducting from the invoice, which was a loss to the millers. He stressed the need for installing paddy dryers and polishers and added that engineering companies in this trade were ready to install and even give demonstration of this technology in model farms.

PRS convener Zulfikar Thaver said that paddy drying and polishing could be adopted as an independent occupation by SMEs and they could undertake the job of drying the paddy for growers or even millers on per ton basis.

He said this would also create jobs as new business opportunities would be available for entrepreneurs in the interior of Sindh. Mr Thaver said with the help of Smeda the matter could be taken up with banks and leasing companies to finance the purchase of dryers and polishers on instalment basis.

The participants urge Smeda to take up the upgradation of rice mills on top priority basis as rice is an important commodity and needs quality improvement at the milling stage.