Rice cornerstone of food security in country, says President Murmu

Cuttack (Agencies):

President Droupadi Murmu said on Saturday that rice is the cornerstone of food security in the country, and a key factor of the nation’s economy. The President said this while inaugurating the 2nd Indian Rice Congress at ICARNational Rice Research Institute, in Odisha.

“Though India is the leading consumer and exporter of rice today, the situation was different when the nation got Independence... those days, we were dependent on imports to meet our food requirements,” she said. Praising the National Rice Research Institute, the President said: “If the nation could overcome that dependency and has become the largest exporter, a lot of credit goes to the National Rice Research Institute.