Miniket may be branded for marketing by any company but cannot claim this as local variety of rich. It cannot be registered under patent act. The fate of Miniket is depends upon teste and demand of the consumers.

1. Miniket, a variety of rice or a brand?
https://businesspostbd.com/post/26159
M S Siddiqui
01 Sep 2021 00:53:01 | Update: 01 Sep 2021 00:53:01
Almost 90 per cent of the population of Bangladesh consume rice as their
staple food. Mostly available and consumed rice varieties of Bangladesh in
recent time are Basmati, Kalijira, Miniket, BINA, BRRI, IRRI, Balam etc.
Rice provides major portion of daily caloric requirement. In the recent time, a
debate has been surfaced whether Miniket is a variety of rice produced in
Bangladesh. In fact, it is a polished version of coarse rice like BRRI-28, BRRI-
29 and BR-23. It has been considered a branding of an agricultural product.
The question arises whether rice can be branded under any other name.
The total rice production of Bangladesh is mostly dependent on the mega varieties
like BRRI dhan28, BRRI dhan29 and BR11. A certain percentage like 6-8 per cent
is coming from hybrid rice varieties. These rice varieties are not fine or so-called
premium type. In fact, all these coarse rices have to undergo over polishing to
change their shape and size. The coarse rice is polished to slender and tasty rice.
When the coarse rice is polished to a slim looking one, it is supposed to lose the
majority of the essential elements mentioned above and fibre essential for the
human nutrition and development.
Miniket is now a popular brand name of a kind of slender and glossy husked rice is
available everywhere in Bangladesh. It is a popular notion that the brand of rice

2. Miniket comes from the milling of a rice variety cultivated in the same name
although there was no registered variety nor a local race (Deshi jat) one is available
in Bangladesh.
The name most probably derived from a synthesised dialect from the words mini
(small) and kit (a set of supplies for a specific purpose). It is a parboiled rice, quite
famous and staple rice in Bangladesh. This rice variety is totally white in color,
thin, and long in size with a little bit of round lower edge and pointy head. Miniket
rice developed by traders through over polish coarse rice like BRRI-28, BRRI-29
and BR-23. Such polishing destroys the nutritional values of rice.
The byproduct of rice powder what they are getting after polishing is used as
animal feed. The millers are selling Miniket at higher price also sell residue rice
powder as poultry feed. The millers are driven by the test and choice of
Bangladesh consumers as they now like shiny, white and tasty rice. The consumers
in Bangladesh once satisfied with the coarse rice having higher nutritional value.
Interestingly in contrast, the highest-priced large-volume world market is for the
traditional high quality indica, long-grain, raw milled rice. This market handles
about one fourth of all export-traded rice and generates an even higher percentage
of income because of lucrative prices.
The complete milling and polishing that converts brown rice into white rice
destroys 67 per cent of the vitamin B3, 80 per cent of the vitamin B1, 90 per cent
of the vitamin B6, 50 per cent of the manganese and phosphorus, 60 per cent of
the iron and all of the dietary fibre and essential fatty acids. Fibre has been
involved in the prevention of major diseases such as gastrointestinal and heart
diseases. The essential oils in the bran have also been found to prevent heart
diseases because these decrease serum cholesterol, which is a major risk factor in
heart disease. The polished rice is exclusively inferior to the unpolished one in
terms of nutrition. They do not have the brown coat. The millers are trying to
satisfy their consumers. These traders enjoy higher value addition and present the
Miniket variety with the marketing mix, such as pricing, distribution, and branding
etc.
The food value chains are being transformed worldwide, given changing
consumption patterns and the increasing insistence on food quality and safety
(World Bank 2007). In a recent study, it has been found that in last three decades,
an important change in quality, as measured through differential varietal choices,
in the rice market of Dhaka, in particular, an important decline of the less
expensive coarse rice. The study further finds a doubling of the premium paid for

3. the fine rice over the past three decades. It thus seems that the role of rice as only a
cheap staple food is being redefined and consumers are ready pay more for their
choices. In few decade consumers are now paying doubling of the premium paid
for the fine rice over the past three decades. It thus seems that the role of rice as
only a cheap staple food is being redefined, even in these poor settings.
In another study, the most widespread distinction found in the rice sector in
Bangladesh relates to the shape and size of the kernel. The coarser the grain, the
wider or fatter it is (relative to the length). Coarse rice grains used in Bangladesh
have a width of more than 2 millimeters. This compares with 1.7 to 2.0 millimeters
for medium rice and less than 1.7 millimeters for fine rice. The attributes that
define the quality of rice most preferred by consumers are physical appearance,
transparency, milling, degree of processing (whiteness), percent of brokenness,
aroma, texture, and nutritional quality, these are often difficult to measure
objectively. The attributes least preferred by consumers were price, impurities
(presence of foreign matter) and the source of rice.
Rice is an agricultural products and different grade of rice are recorded with the
agricultural department. There is no brand or trade registration of any grade of rice.
Rice brands are Geographical Indication (GI) product and belong to people of a
region or country under community ownership. One individual person or company
cannot patent or register rice as GI product.
There is an exceptional case with Basmati rich. Basmati is a rice variety of South
Asia and mostly cultivated in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and also in Thailand. But
one American firm Rice-tech has got Basmati registered with the United States
Patent office as its own product under the trade mark, Jasmati and Kasmati. The
government of Pakistan raised the issue in the US Court and claimed that
Basmatiis a GI product and cannot be patented in favor of any company. The
committee to plead Pakistan's case is headed by Federal Secretary of Agriculture
Dr. Zafar Altaf, Dr. Mohd. Akbar of National Agriculture Research Center, and
Dr. Abdul Majid former Director, Rice Research Institute. Finally, US government
withdrown the patent of Basmatiissued in favor of Rice-tech.
It may be mentioned here that USA does not have any Geographical Indication
law. Bangladesh passed the Geographical Indications of goods (registration and
protection) act 2013. Rice is considered as GI product and any variety of rice only
be registered as GI products under community ownership or agricultural
department of the government. Miniket may be branded for marketing by any
company but cannot claim this as local variety of rich. It cannot be registered under

4. patent act. The fate of Miniket is depends upon teste and demand of the
consumers.
The writer is a legal economist