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Dr Abedin, Are you into collecting rice varieties? In that case you must get in touch with Dr Anupam Paul in Phulia ( West Bengal, INDIA) who has been doing so. Dr Pankaj Oudhia of Chhatisgarh, who is a member of this network, is also into it.
Dear Ms.Rina,
Thank you for the nice suggestion.
I am in touch with rice science,cultivation and dissemination.
I will get in touch with the persons as soon as possible.
Hope you are doing well.
You may love to share some of your achievements to inspire us.
Best regards,
Zainul
Here is an article written by Dr Anupam Paul, who has detailed the work being done by him and his colleagues on folk rice varieties in Phulia, West Bengal, INDIA.
FOLK RICE CONSERVATION WORK IN WEST BENGAL
Our rich bio-resources: Our rich bio-resources Owing to the edapho-
climatological factors, rice became the staple food
of Eastern India since millennia. There were more
than 5000 region specific indigenous rice varieties
(folk rice) in West Bengal. A survey report
published in 1930 showed that the erstwhile Bengal
province had 15000 rice varieties. However, majority
of these belonged to Bangladesh. Our forefathers
have developed and selected these varieties from a
single crop species of rice, ie, Oryza sativa aiming
to meet the food security of future generations. But
we have forgotten to acknowledge their
contribution. Each variety is unique with specific
characteristics like disease resistance, flood
tolerance, flood as well as drought tolerance, high
grain yields, aroma etc. Farmer-selected crop
varieties are not only adapted to local soil and
climatic conditions but also fine-tuned to diverse
local ecological conditions and cultural preferences
(Deb 2009). For example, Kalonunia and
Chamarmani are blast resistant rice varieties. Low
lying areas are replete with flood tolerant varieties.
A wide genetic base provides “built-in insurance”
(Harlan 1992) against crop pests, pathogens and
More than 82000 (NBPGR, 2007-08) rice
varieties were selected and cultivated by the farmers
of the Indian subcontinent. Nearly 600 high yielding
varieties (HYV) were developed by crossing indica
and japonica or selections from the cross. Out of
those varieties only four – five HYVs are popular
in each state. High yielding varieties do not give
high grain yield in all locations especially in marginal
lands prone to floods, drought and/or salinity .
Hence, calling these HYVs is inappropriate and
they may be called modern varieties (MVs).
How important are these: How important are these: Since the
devastation caused by AILA, in May 2009, farmers
of Sundarban have been desperately searching for
true salt tolerant indigenous rice varieties . Earlier
they used to grow these in their fields. Along with
the introduction of the MVs coupled with the
erection of high embankments around the saline
rivers, farmers started increasing the area of MVs,
replacing the region specific salt tolerant rice
varieties. This has been the practice for the last 25
years or so. Farmers chose them as the varieties
were considered to be ‘miracle seeds’. However,
with the passage of time, the farmers have realized
the severe drawbacks of these miracle seeds. But,
neither the farmers nor the relevant institutes
January 2014 3
Dr.Anupam Paul
conserved the diverse salt tolerant rice varieties
because the modern varieties were supposedly
doing well in the farmers’ fields. Salt tolerant varieties
like Matla, Hamilton and Amarican mota have
already vanished from farmers’ fields. Nearly 150
indigenous varieties are extant in farmers’ fields of
West Bengal. The AILA was an eye opener; it
showed that local varieties are best suited if the so
called MVs are wiped out by a natural disaster or
fail in marginal conditions.
modern rice variety can survive in marginal
environmental conditions. Traditional crop varieties
are often recorded to have out-yielded modern
varieties in marginal environmental conditions
(Cleveland et al.2000). Farmers were lured to grow
MVs along with subsidized fertilizers, pesticides and
pump sets. They were made to believe that it was
the only option to increase grain yield in order to
combat the perceived threat of famine. They were
never told about the potentialities of region specific
indigenous high yielding varieties vis-à-vis possible
damage caused by the agro-chemicals and its long
term effects, withdrawal of ground water or the cost
of growing MVs. The MVs gave good yield during
the initial years of Green Revolution. Now grain
yield of MVs have been officially declining despite
heavy application of agro-chemicals. The chemical
intensive agriculture has not only expunged the local
crop genetic diversities but also their wild relatives
that are the only source of unique genes for disease
and pest resistance (Deb 2005)
Comparative Yield Study:
conducted between folk rice and modern varieties
in the same land situation but there are very few
studies on this aspect. Comparison was made only
on the grain yield and not on the total productivity
of the rice fields. Low lying areas with deep water
paddy can also provide fish along with grain and
straw, whereas, the paddy straw and the amount of
fish and snail etc of MVs is not considered as an
important by-product. For example, the mainstream
agriculturists consider the grain yield of folk variety
Asanliya in the undulating drought prone area of
Purulia district (marginal lands) poor in comparison
to grain yield of MV in the plain lands of Burdwan
district, cultivated using chemical fertilizers,
pesticides and irrigation. However, this comparison
is not scientifically tenable.
It has already been established that no
Ideally comparative yield studies should be
The Biodiversity Conservation Farm under
the Agricultural Training Centre, Fulia, West Bengal
has been conducting comparative studies for the
last couple of years. All the folk rice varieties have
been grown through Single Plant Transplanting
(SPT). The Table 1 clearly shows that the folk rice
varieties are no less than HYVs in terms of yields.
Apart from grain yield folk rice gives substantial
amount of palatable straw necessary for fodder and
roof thatching. But these are ignored in mainstream
agriculture, which looks only at grain yield.
Table 1 Comparative grain yield of folk and modern varieties
Sl no Varieties Yield(ton/ha) Remarks
1 Kerala Sundari 4.5-5* With organic input
2 Bahurupi 4.5-5* do
3 Kabirajsal 4 do
4 Asit Kalma 4 do
5 Jhuli 4 do
6 Lakalam 3.5 do
7 Kesabsal 4.5 do
8 Radhatilak( Scented) 2.9 do
9 Dudheswar(Fine small grain) 3 do
10 HYV MTU-7029 4.5 With chemical inputs
11 Hybrid KRH-2** 5.5 With chemical inputs
*The yield is dependent on many factors, some farmers got 6-6.5 ton /ha.
** The yield data was collected from farmers’ fields of Odisha and West Bengal. The yield has not been
consistent, it varies from 2.5 ton – 6 ton /ha and farmers have to purchase the seed each season.
. Table 2 Coverage of rice in West Bengal in 2012
Season Normal Targeted Achieved Remarks
Area Area (Lakh ha)
(Lakh ha) (Lakh ha)
Aus( Pre-kharif) 2.5 2( approx) Area is declining
Aman ( Kharif) 39.13 42.90 37( approx) More than 90% area
Boro( Summer) 14 14 13.69 Govt is not encouraging Boro
Folk rice 2 South 24 Pgs, Burdwan, West
Medinipur, Howrah, Jalpaiguri,
Coochbihar, Uttar and Dakshin
Dinajpur districts have more
coverage
Source: Department of Agriculture, Govt of West Bengal
The data indicates that modern varieties have
already replaced most of the folk rice varieties from
farmers’ fields. Farmers have no choice; they have
to cultivate modern varieties along with purchased
seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. But many of them
have started to raise the question about the efficacy
of modern varieties regarding the consistency of grain
yield and the cost of production.
Radhatilak – promising scented variety Comparison of Panicles
4 PADDY
Table 3: Some prominent folk rice varieties so far extant in farmers’ fields
of West Bengal
Varieties Districts Area (in ha) Remarks
Sanu-ad-dhee Hill regions of Darjeeling 100 Scented rice
Kalonunia, Sadanunia Jalpaiguri, Coochbihar 20000 Scented rice
Tulaipanji Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur 5000+1000 Scented rice
Gobindobhog, Badshabhog Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura, 31000 Popular scented rice, Gobindobhog
and Sitabhog South and N 24 Pgs, Hoogly and and Badshabhog are usually called
other districts as KHAS,Burdwan district has
Asanliya, Bhutmuri, Purulia, Bankura 50 Non-scented, bold rice, Bhutmuri is
Kerala Sundari, Purulia, Burdwan N 24 Pgs, 400 Non-scented, bold rice, good yielder-
Hoogly, 4.5t/ha, Sagar Island of S 24 Pgs has
Bahurupi N 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Non-scented, bold rice, good
major coverage
a red rice
good coverage
Hoogly, Howrah, Nadia 100 yielder-4.5t/ha, Hingalgunj Block of
N 24 Pgs and Burdwan has good
coverage.
Kabirajsal, Chamarmani Medinipur, Nadia 30 Good for daily cooking
Dudheswar S 24 Pgs and N 24 Pgs 15000 Small grain fine rice
Moulo, Jamainaru Howrah 35 Daily cooking
Kaminibhog Sundarban area of N 24 Pgs 50 Bold scented, used as parboiled rice
Khejurchari,Marichsal N and S 24 Pgs 150 Daily cooking, Muri( rice bubble),
Radhatilak N 24 Pgs, Hoogly, Nadia,
Panta ( water soaked rice) etc
Bankura, Purba Medinipur Scented, gives more yield than
and Burdwan 50 Gobindobhog, good adaptability
Source: Compiled from various sources
extent of area under folk rice varieties. The figures
were collected from various sources. Besides the
above mentioned area of 72965 ha under folk rice
varieties, other varieties are still cultivated
There is no specific published data on the
Seed Requirement and Seed Production in
West Bengal: Prior to t West Bengal: he Green Revolution (GR)
farmers used to exchange seeds among themselves
and thereby conserved thousands of region specific
varieties through cultivation. Since the Green
Revolution, seeds became a commodity like any
other marketable product being sold from the agro
input dealers.
Germination of two seedlings -Jugal
January 2014 5
Farmers never exchanged poor quality seed with
the neighbouring farmers, on the contrary now a
section of seed dealers sell non-seeds or spurious
seeds to its customers – the farmers.
There was no dearth of seed during the pre-
Green Revolution period as farmers knew the
techniques for seed production and preservation.
Moreover, crop seeds were not considered a
marketable commodity. With the onset of
externalization of agricultural inputs in the name of
GR, farmers do not want to take up the burden of
seed production and preservation as seeds are
available in the market.
The requirement of rice seed for Aus, Aman
and Boro in West Bengal is around 98000 tonnes
and the state produces nearly 70000 tonnes per year.
The remaining 28000 tonnes come from other states.
The total cost of seed would be around Rs 245 crore
( 98000 tonnes x Rs 25000/ tonne). If the area under
folk rice is increased by 50% of the total rice area,
there could be a savings of Rs 122.5 crores.
Moreover, one does not need to replace the seed
every three years, like in the case of modern varieties,
for it can be continued over a thousand years
provided seed production and conservation
techniques are properly maintained. It is worth
mentioning that the scented varieties like
Kalanamak and Basmati are more than 2500 years
old and are still in vogue.
Rice Conservation in West Bengal through
the Department of Agriculture, Govt of West
Rice Research Station, Rice Research Station Chuchura (Chinsurah) Chuchura (Chinsurah
of West Bengal West Bengal began rice conservation since
the 1930s. During the 1960s it had more than 3500
folk rice varieties and these were also donated to
the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI),
Philippines. However, the centre had selected many
improved rice varieties out of the folk rice. At
present it has more than 800 folk rice varieties. It
also distributes folk rice varieties among the farmers.
The station published a book on sixty folk rice
varieties in 1962 (Recommended varieties of paddy
for West Bengal, Directorate of Agriculture, Govt
Table 4 Folk Rice Seed Distribution from ATC Fulia during the last three years
Year of Production Year of Distribution No of varieties distributed No of recipients farmers
2009 2010 50 56
2010 2011 Year of severe Only panicles were
2011 2012 74 121
2012 2013 126 80
of West Bengal). In 2008, 46 years since its
inception, the centre also published a book on 467
folk rice varieties giving some major characters of
the varieties (The Rice Biodiversity in West Bengal,
Directorate of Agriculture, Govt of West Bengal).
However, there might be some repetition for a
particular variety may be known by different names
in different places. Scientific methods like DNA
finger printing and other morphological studies can
sort out the problem of duplication. In West Bengal
DNA finger printing has been done for nearly 150
varieties.
Agriculture Training Centre, Agriculture Training Centre, Fulia:a: Inspired
by the works of Vrihi of Bankura, the author of the
article has started conservation of folk rice since 2001
at the demonstration farm at the Agriculture
Training Centre, Fulia and now the centre has about
300 folk rice varieties. After constant persuasion,
the centre was declared as a Biodiversity
Conservation Farm by the Directorate of Agriculture
in 2006. Initially, the centre had collected 22
varieties from Vrihi. It also collected folk rice
varieties from farmers, the Development Research
Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC )
,Kolkata, Swanirvar of Baduria, N 24 Pgs., different
farmers across the state, Sambhab of Odisha, Thanal
of Kerala, Sahaja Samrudha of Bangalore, and
others in Nagaland, Assam and Maharastra. Till date
more than 350 farmers have received folk rice
varieties directly from the centre and the seeds reach
more than 500 farmers indirectly. Different
universities are taking the folk varieties for various
studies like morphological studies, DNA finger
printing, estimation of vitamin B complex, protein
and minerals. Agricultural universities like Bidhan
Chandra Krishi Viswavidyala, Viswa Bharati of
Santiniketan have collected more than 30 and 155
varieties respectively from the centre. Different state
government farms have collected folk seed from the
centre.
The centre has set a record in the history of
Indian agriculture since no government farm has ever
distributed so many folk seeds in a year. The centre
also revaluates the varietal characters of the seeds
conserved.
drought collected
6 PADDY
I salute Dr Anupam Paul for the wonderful initiative.I hope the Government of West Bengal,IRRI and FAO will support the initiatve.
Thank you Rina for sharing the precious information.
Zainul
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