Basmati rice before it is refined. Saiyna Bashir for The Washington Post
Lahore, Pakistan: 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.
Workers pick up basmati rice in October in Sheikhupura, Pakistan, before it is refined at a mill. Saiyna Bashir for The Washington Post
Basmati rice - the region’s "scented pearl” - was probably once exported to the Roman Empire, historians say, and is today in growing demand in the United States and Europe. Yet its origins have never been more divisive or its future more uncertain.
Officials in New Delhi are pushing for basmati rice to be granted protected status in global markets as a uniquely Indian product. They have been met with vehement opposition from Pakistan, which claims the rice is part of a shared heritage between the two countries.
But in the world’s basmati heartlands, many fear the real threat is being ignored by leaders in both nations.
A Savour Foods in Lahore. The restaurant chain is famous for its pulao, a rice-based dish that it mostly makes with basmati. Saiyna Bashir for The Washington Post
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.
"Young farmers have lost the traditional knowledge of how to maintain genetic purity,” said Debal Deb, an ecologist who works with Indian farmers to conserve indigenous seeds. He called the debate over who owns basmati "a complete waste of energy on both sides.”
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.
Faisal Hassan says farmers on the subcontinent have compromised on the definition of basmati rice. Saiyna Bashir for The Washington Post
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.
Hassan holds a photo of his father, who helped create a popular variety of basmati rice in Pakistan in the 1960s. Saiyna Bashir for The Washington Post
Basmati’s global boom
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.
Rice fields on the outskirts of Sheikhupura, Pakistan. Saiyna Bashir for The Washington Post
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.
Workers dry out basmati rice before it is refined. Saiyna Bashir for The Washington Post
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.
A legacy in doubt
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.
A rice mill in Sheikhupura that exports basmati rice. Saiyna Bashir for The Washington Post
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.
