Telangana Sona Rice can augur well in building a healthier India and can address lifestyle issues such as diabetes. The rice variety has low glycemic index (GI), which is good for consumers. With its intrinsic health benefits and enhanced production in the State, the new paddy variety has good potential to serve global markets, said Dr B Janardhan Reddy, secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Telangana.
While addressing the participants at the online panel discussion on ‘Agricultural Innovations and Consumer Markets: Benefits and Challenges for Telangana Sona Rice’, organised by the Indian School of Business (ISB), he said, the need of the hour is to build upon its export potential. He called upon ISB to work closely with all the stakeholders and take this initiative forward.
Dr V Praveen Rao, vice chancellor, professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) underlined that Telangana Sona Rice variety which was developed strategically by the varsity, gels with the local climatic conditions and is a disease resistant, short duration crop with high protein content and low glycemic index.
Prof Madhu Viswanathan, senior assistant professor, Marketing, ISB as the lead faculty for the Telangana Sona, shared his insights on how the Telangana Sona Rice branding and marketing study was carried out. The results of the study show that there is a need for segmentation-specific positioning strategy covering both health and taste attributes of the rice to reach the mass market.