Long before this land was part of a frontier between India and Pakistan, farmers here grew a precious long-grain rice that was coveted the world over.
As Pakistan and India spar over basmati rice, some fear for its survival
But in the world’s basmati heartlands, many fear the real threat is being ignored by leaders in both nations. As analysts predict international demand for basmati to double over the next few years
— reaching an estimated $27 billion by 2032 — farmers and rice connoisseurs say the signature strain is on the brink of disappearing.
Basmati’s name is derived from an ancient Indo-Aryan word for “aromatic” and “fragrant,” and it is described by many here in almost religious terms.
“There’s this special moment when you lift the lid of your metal pot and the steam comes out,” said Muhammad Nawaz, 37, a Pakistani chef. “It’s an eruption inside your nose; it intoxicates you.”
Nobody can say with certainty when exactly that began to change. But all agree that’s not what most basmati rice here tastes like these days — even if it carries the label.
In the 1980s, Indian and Pakistani farmers seeking a market advantage began growing varieties that matured faster and produced higher yields but lacked basmati’s characteristic richness. As small farms gave way to large agribusiness over the following decades, quicker harvest cycles, processing shortcuts and soil degradation, partly caused by climate change, all contributed to a less fragrant rice.
But the new varieties are cheaper and easier to prepare at home. More important, according to exporters, most customers in the West can’t tell the difference.
In Lahore, and across this agricultural belt of South Asia, many feel that true basmati rice is quietly dying out. “We have compromised on the definition,” said Faisal Hassan, whose father became a national hero in Pakistan when he helped create a popular variety of basmati rice in the 1960s.
“This is suicidal,” he said.
Basmati rice is deeply rooted in the Punjab region, which today comprises a state in India and an adjacent Pakistani province. Early forms may have been cultivated here as long as 2,000 years ago, archaeologists have found; written references to the rice appear as early as the 16th century, when the Mughal Empire ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent.
“It was the food of emperors and kings,” said Raja Arslan Ullah Khan, a Pakistani rice exporter.
In the 1930s, Britain’s colonial government in India officially recognized the first standardized variety of basmati, which had been researched in a part of what would become the Pakistani Punjab province when British India was partitioned in 1947.
Basmati rice wasn’t an immediate international success. Initial importers were mostly in the Middle East, which had a growing affinity for biryani, and among South Asian diasporas in Europe and the United States.
From the start, India and Pakistan quarreled over who had the best basmati, and who had rightful claim to the name. In the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war, Pakistani farmers accused Indian soldiers of stealing their seeds; India subsequently accused its neighbor of copying its most prized varieties.
“Our rice was far better in quality compared to that of India,” said Chaudhry Arshad Mahmood, a 55-year-old Pakistani farmer whose family has grown rice in the region for decades.
Ganesh Hingmire, an Indian professor who specializes in intellectual property disputes, couldn’t disagree more: “If you have an inferior quality, you have no right to claim it’s yours,” he said.
In recent decades, India has undeniably gained the upper hand in the race to global basmati dominance. Its increasingly successful marketing strategies and export policies have outpaced those of Pakistan, which is “late to the party,” said Saboor Ahmed, a rice supplier in Lahore.
The country is looking for opportunities to seize more market share, as it did after 2018, when Indian exports to Europe were affected by new E.U. pesticide limits.
But “let’s be honest: Their variety is similar to ours,” said Yograjdeep Singh, a basmati rice business strategist in India. “Why are we fighting about this?”
New Delhi’s global efforts to enshrine its ownership of basmati have largely stalled. While an Indian case in the European Union is pending, Australia and New Zealand have rejected similar legal claims.
There are no exact figures for how much traditional basmati is still grown in Pakistan, but exporters and experts agree that the majority of rice produced here is now of the newer, high-yield varieties. On the other side of the border, Pusa Basmati 1121, or PB 1121, a newer strain, accounted for around 70 percent of all basmati cultivated in India’s Punjab state in 2019.
It’s a trend that is unlikely to be reversed. According to one study, farmers netted an average of $1,400 per hectare of PB 1121, more than double the $650 they earned from older varieties.
Deb, the Indian ecologist, maintains his own rice seed bank, part of a small but growing grassroots movement to conserve traditional basmati. “We maintain genetic purity of each variety,” he said, “and then distribute them to farmers for free.” He added that more extensive efforts are needed across the region if the original taste and smell of indigenous varieties are to endure.
In Pakistan, people say basmati will always have a place at their tables, even if it’s not what it once was.
Faqir Hussain, a Lahore-based restaurant owner, switched to serving his customers a cheaper long-grain alternative years ago. “People will probably forget that traditional basmati rice ever existed,” he said.
Hussain and other businessmen in Pakistan are focused on catering to younger generations — the country’s median age is around 20 — who often lack the emotional connection to traditional basmati and the means to afford it.
Lahore-based waiter Saqib Ur Rahaman, 52, said he understands why many are moving on; dishes at his restaurant would double in price if the old varieties were still used.
For Rahaman, though, there’s no substitute for the original. He still receives the precious grains at affordable prices from his wife’s relatives, who live nearby in the rice-growing heartlands.
“As long as my in-laws are alive, I’ll be okay,” he said.
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