Folk Rice Diversity in West Bengal: Conserving this Neglected Treasure

Replacing region-specific, salt-tolerant Folk Rice Varieties (FRV s) with Modern Varieties (MVs) of rice was a costly mistake because it became clear that the MVs could not survive in the marginal environmental conditions. By reintroducing FRV s, efforts are being made to regain the time-tested wisdom of traditional practices and the local population

T here are some reports that say that there were once more than 5,000 region-specific, indigenous varieties of rice in West Bengal, and the erstwhile Province of Bengal had as many as 10,000 varieties. Studying our old scattered scriptures and literature in vernacular and in Sanskrit, Sir William Wilson Hunter (1840–1900), a Scottish historian, statistician and an ICS officer, was the first to document 556 rice varieties in Jalpaiguri, Nadia and Malda districts alone in his famous book in 20 volumes—A Statistical Account of Bengal (1875–79). Later, many others have contributed to this seemingly incomplete documentation.

According to a report of the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (2007– 08), more than 82,700 varieties of rice were selected and cultivated by farmers in the Indian subcontinent. These varieties were selected and developed from a single crop species of rice called the oryza sativa by our visionary forefathers, to meet the food security of future generations. Both their contribution and their vision remain unacknowledged.

British text books on agriculture and files on the economic policies of the then government described the cultivated crop varieties as ‘indigenous crop varieties’ or ‘native crops’, investing them with a negative connotation that has continued in post-Raj writings, with the media coverage also favouring mainstream agriculture and suggesting that native crops do not have the potential to feed India’s teeming millions.