Grains of Life: How Chotanagpur's Adivasis Are Reviving Native Varieties of Rice
Farmers and local NGOs say the indigenous rice varieties that are fast becoming extinct have unique nutrition, climate-resilience to ensure food security in increasingly unpredictable weather.
Sundargarh (Odisha), Latehar (Jharkhand): Deep inside the lush sal forest in Odisha’s Sundargarh, Albisia Lakda, an Adivasi farmer living in Subdega block had divided the rice crop on her two-acre plot of farmland in two sections. With the monsoon fluctuating widely last year, parts of Odisha experienced long dry spells and crop failures.
Now, in the plot she called the berna (low-lying land), which collects the most rain, Lakda continued to plant ‘Annapurna’, a modern hybrid variety of rice, which she referred as sarkaari dhaan (government rice). In the guda (upland), she had gone back to growing the crops of her ancestors – indigenous, or heirloom rice varieties called Kalamaliphool, Bahalguda, Lusri and Luhini.
Title of publication: The Wire
Autor: Anumeha Yadav
Organización: The Wire
Año: 2024
País(es): India
Cobertura geográfica: Asia y el Pacífico
Tipo: Artículo de revista
Texto completo disponible en: https://thewire.in/agriculture/grains-of-life-how-chotanagpurs-adivasis-are-reviving-native-varieties-of-rice
Idioma utilizado para los contenidos: English