Basmati, , is a variety of long, slender-grained aromatic rice which is traditionally grown in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. , India accounted for 65% of the international trade in basmati rice, while Pakistan accounted for the remaining 35%. Many countries use domestically grown basmati rice crops; however, basmati is geographically exclusive to certain districts of India and Pakistan. According to the Indian Government agency APEDA, a rice variety is eligible to be called basmati if it has a minimum average precooked milled rice length of and average precooked milled rice breadth of up to , among other parameters. History and etymology Etymology According to Oxford English Dictionary, the word basmati derives from Hindi , , literally meaning 'fragrant', from (, 'fragrance') + the word-forming suffix (). History Basmati rice is believed to have been cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Earliest mention of Basmati rice has been made in the epic Heer Ranjha composed by the Punjabi poet Varis Shah in 1766. Production and cultivation India accounts for over 70% of the world's basmati rice production. A small portion of that is being grown organically. Organisations such as Kheti Virasat Mission are trying to increase the amount of organic basmati rice that is being grown in the Punjab in India. In India The areas which have a geographical indication for basmati rice production in India are in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. India's total basmati production for the July 2011 – June 2012 crop year was five million tonnes. From April 2018 to March 2019, India exported 4.4 million metric tons of basmati rice. In 2015–2016, Saudi Arabia, Iran and UAE were the three biggest destinations for India's basmati rice exports and exports to these three countries accounted for more than half of India's total basmati exports. In 2015–2016, basmati rice worth US$3.4 billion was exported from India. In Pakistan According to the FAO, Pakistan's original Basmatic area lies in the Kalar bowl between the Ravi and Chenab rivers. Almost all the cultivation of Basmati takes place in the Punjab province where total production was in 2010. In fiscal year 2020, basmati exports stood at 890,207 tonnes valuing $790 million. In overall basmati exports, Europe holds a 40% share while the rest are exported to Gulf countries, Australia and US. In Indonesia Indonesia produced its own local variant