“Seed Villages” Granary of Traditional Rice

VarietiesDr.Smitha K.P & Anitha.K

Kelu the tribal leader of Paramoola Kurichiya hamlet is now happy that the rice varieties they have conserved for the past hundreds of years is now gaining popular-ity among the general farming community, not only within Wayanad district but also throughout Kerala State. He is now a proud tribal chieftain who claims that many traditional rice varieties got conserved by the efforts of his forefathers and the tribal communi-ties of Wayanad. “I am happy that these traditional rice varieties will now be conserved and the farmers conserving and cultivating them will be benefitted with a premium price for the produce”Medicinal and aromatic rice initiative is one of the core areas of the “Livelihood Enhancement, Agriculture and Food Security” (LEAFS) Project being implement-ed by M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSS-RF). The project aims to establish seed villages in the traditional rice tracts of Wayanad district, Kerala there by promote the conservation, cultivation, consump-tion and commerce of such varieties says Dr.Anilku-mar, Director, Community Agrobiodiversity Centre, Wayanad. There were about 105 traditional rice variet-ies cultivated in Wayanad as per the early records. But this has reduced to 35 out of which only less than ten are now extensively cultivated here. If the situation goes on like this it will take only a few more years for the erosion of this vast genetic wealth. The cultivation of such speciality varieties is decreasing day by day, the major reason being low productivity of these varieties compared to the High Yielding Varieties (HYV). “The only way before us was to increase the consumption of

Medicinal and Aromatic Rice Initiative :

such varieties highlighting its speciality and nutrition-al aspects. Exploring an elite market or a better seed market can only fetch the traditional farmers a premi-um price for their produce and only a premium price can bring in more farmers in to the cultivation of these rice varieties opines senior scientist Dr. Smitha, at the community Agrobiodiversity centre,Wayanad.

Importance of traditional rice varieties

Each of the traditional varieties possesses a special characteristic and the erosion of it poses a major threat to our country’s genetic wealth. Most of the traditional varieties grown in Wayanad are tolerant to drought and flood. All the varieties are with high starch and crude fiber content. Varieties ranges from the tasty Veliyan, Thondi and Adukkan to aromatic varieties like Gandakassala, Jeerakassala and Mullankaima, other special varieties being chennellu used against blood related disorders and Kalladiaryan which is drought tolerant. Most of these varieties are grown under Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) that makes it eco-friendly. All the varieties mentioned here are long duration (six months and above) with the exception of Kalladiaryan with 4 months and Thonnooram thondi with 3 months of crop duration .The list of the variet-ies goes on……, the wealth that only Wayanad can be proud of.

Kelu

The intervention

The team have mobilized rice farmers from ten villages of Wayanad district, clustered them into seed villages, mainly serving as seed, grain and gene banks. Over the past two years there were process of community mobili-zation, clustering farmers in to groups, awareness generation on the importance of the traditional varieties, purity maintenance and management of seed and gene bank. The project intends to purify the seeds of traditional vari-eties consecutively for three generations, supply it to the villages and link them up with farmers and institutions interested in rice cultivation.

Strategy Adopted

Each of the seed villages had two to eight traditional varieties cultivated, conserved and consumed. Due to changes in the climate and unpredicted floods and drought now more farmers have started cultivating tra-ditional varieties which are more hardy and tolerant to climate vagaries. Hence there is an increased demand for the seeds of these varieties most of which are mixed with other varieties. To overcome the issue of con-tamination/mixing of seeds, 2 acres of paddy land was leased out and utilized for purification of the selected ten varities (Chennellu, Chenthadi, Chomala, Jeerakas-ala, Gandakasala, Mullan kaima, Thondi, Adukkan, Veliyan, Kalladiyaryan). Participatory purification methods were adopted for selection and purification of seeds with the expertise from the Community mem-bers. It was adopted in the nodal plot as well as the ten

selected villages. Purification techniques like rouging of weeds and off-types was performed and the purified seeds were supplied to the seed villages for cultiva-tion in the forth coming season. The seeds produced from the villages are supplied to other farmers across the district and outside. Trainings were provided on puritification techniques, seed and grain management, mechanization etc for helping the community in their efforts to conserve

The team worked with farmer clusters ensuring equal and active participation of both women and men. The enquires of seeds are linked to the seed bank manage-ment committee at the village level who supply the seeds at a premium rate that was fixed by the central-ized unit of “Seed Care” ,the Grass Root Institution of traditional seed growers of Malabar. All the seed vil-lages have adequate representation in the GRI. Farmers could sell additional quantities of rice after consump-

tion through establishment of linkages with traders for a better price. Some villages have even identified niche markets for their produce.

Hurdles

Low productivity of traditional varieties compared to the High Yielding Varieties was the major difficulty. Lack of exclusive markets for such varieties grown un-der Good Agricultural Practices reduces its cultivation. Price for these varieties is on par with the HYV which makes it non-remunerative. Conversion of paddy lands for growing more profitable crops like banana is a major problem encountered throughout the district. Growing rice strictly under organic method is not possible as the crop has a common irrigation system which is a major hurdle in organic certification.

Assessing impact

There are 105 households spread across ten selected seed villages in the district. Our intervention spread across 44.8 hectares of wetland. The farmers in the seed villages used to sell traditional paddy seeds @Rs. 14/kg to the rice traders before the intervention. Now they sell paddy seeds @Rs.35 – 40 /kg to the farmers from other villages. Aromatic rice varieties are now being sold @Rs.50/kg. This was solely due to their membership in the GRI “Seed Care” which serves as an association of traditional seed growers.

Every year the seed villages are able to sell off the excess produce after their consumption. The villagers could sell two and half tones of traditional varieties in a year by which the area under traditional varieties have expanded by 71 acres as the major seed buyers were those who were cultivating HYV. Balan, a farmer of seed village share that they are increasing the area under traditional varieties as there is lot of demand for varieties like chennellu which has medicinal prop-erties, which earn them a good income as he is selling the grain @ Rs.65/kg.

“During the last two years, after joining the seed village programme we have expanded the area under traditional varieties from four to six acres. After consumption of all our group members and families we are able to sell the seeds outside at a higher price. We all are happy that our children are getting healthy rice that is not contaminated with pesticides” says Oma-na, Secretary of Yuvasree Self Help Group. The contented mother with a smile retreats to her daily chores. The vast stretch of picturesque lush green paddy land awaits her……….

Contact person:Smitha K.P , MSSRF

smithakp@mssrf.res.in04936-204477