Rice
Rice is the main staple food of Malagasy and is attached to an entire culture. Its substitution by another product is quasi unthinkable.
Per capita rice consumption in the year 2000 was 140 kg of brown rice. Many families eat rice three times a day, and most of it is homegrown. In some areas, Ranonapango – a drink made from toasted rice – is reserved for special occasions.
Given this entrenched loyalty to one food crop, we plan to sell a high-quality rice by reducing its price by half on the market.
Our rice will be produced using a method called SRI, known as the Systéme de Riziculture Intensive in French and Voly vary Maroanaka in Malagasy.
This method is used for increasing the productivity of irrigated rice cultivation by changing the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients.
SRI practices lead to healthier, more productive soil and plants by supporting greater root growth and by nurturing the abundance and diversity of soil organisms. The advantage of the SRI approach is that it does not require the purchase of new seeds or the use of new high-yielding varieties. Although the highest yields with SRI have been obtained from improved varieties, most traditional or local varieties of rice respond well to SRI practices and command a higher market price.
We will be using two main types of rice that are indica X265 (or malaika) and the japonica (or Soamalandy), respectively known for their resistance to floods and drought for the former and resistance to iron toxicity and deficiency in phosphorus in the soil for the latter.
Thus, we intend to cultivate new culinary habits of that also insist on consuming rice of a superior quality, which was previously inaccessible to the majority of households.
Here are some of the characteristics of the rice we will be using:
- High quality
- 100% organic
- Rapid life cycle (precocious…)
- Storable without denaturation
- Disease-free: healthy
- The taste meets universal standards
- An enhanced aroma will also be developed.