The state government of Himachal Pradesh plans to increase the cultivation of red rice to 4,000 hectares (ha) from the current 1,100 ha. The state government is also trying to secure a Geographical Indication tag for the red rice.
Red rice was domesticated about 10,000 years ago and is cultivated in Chirgaon, Rohru, and Rampur in Kullu Valley, the high hills of Shimla, Sirmour, and Chamba, and parts of Kangra in Himachal.
However, the varities of red rice is said to be on the “verge of exctinction” as farmers shifted to planting other crops and rice varities.
Read the full story at Hindustan Times
Read more articles about red rice and other heirloom rice varieties:
Red pearls of the Himalayas
One of the many treasures of Himachal Pradesh is its red rice varieties. These include chhohartu from Shimla District; sukara, jhinjan, and karad from Chamba District; jattoo, deval, and matali from Kullu District; and desi dhan, kalizhini, achhoo, and begmi from Kangra, according to R.P. Kaushik, former head and rice breeder of the Rice Research Centre at Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh (CSKHP) Agricultural University. Himalayan red rice varieties command a higher price because of their excellent texture, aroma, flavor, and visual appeal. They could prove to be an economic boon to farmers if these varieties find their own high-value market niche similar to basmati, a specialty rice.
Conserving and increasing productivity and value of the heirloom rice in the Philippine Cordillera
Heirloom rice are varieties that are created through centuries of cultivation and are typically passed down through generations in a family. Morphological and agronomical traits (passport data) play essential roles in the characterization, varietal identification, and better understanding of the special traits of the landraces for the appreciation of the indigenous peoples, heirs, and sole owners of the precious heirloom rice varieties.
Rice of deities
Three thousand years ago, African rice (Oryza glaberrima) was first domesticated in central Niger in West Africa and then spread to the rest of the continent. For thousands of years, it sustained the economies of many pre-colonial African kingdoms in West and Central Africa. African rice is also important in the spiritual realm of some African people. In fact, its value in sacred rituals saved African rice from the onslaught of Asian rice in pockets of small communities, such as the Jola (or Diola) people in southern Senegal, according to Olga Linares, staff scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. The Jola engage in largescale rice cultivation and agrarian activities and measure a person’s wealth by the amount of rice owned.
