Around 70 years ago—thousands of heritage rice varieties were cultivated across India. Each type was indigenous to a particular region and had a unique shape, taste and fragrance. Many of these heritage rice varieties have been lost over time, making way for just a few commercially viable hybrid varieties.
The AIM for Seva NGO has started the "Spirit of the Earth" campaign to create awareness about indigenous rice varieties. They also retail organically grown rice.
"In 2011, we were already working in the village of Manjakkudi in the spheres of education and healthcare," says Priyanka Joshi-Navneet of Spirit of the Earth.
"Located in the heart of the Cauvery delta, farming is the primary occupation here, and farmers were growing hybrid variants and using heavy pesticides. Upon a visit there, Chairperson and Managing Trustee Sheela Balaji decided to embark on a project to revive grains and encourage farmers to adopt natural farming practices and cultivate heritage seeds."
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Motivated by people like Nammavalaraiiyya and Nel Jayaraman of the "Save our Rice Campaign," in 2013, the NGO organised the Nel Thiruvizha or seed festival to teach organic farming practices and share heritage rice seeds with farmers.
"In the first year, farmers from over 300 villages participated. We did this festival for three years—2013, 2014, 2015—before farmers finally decided to cultivate heritage rice organically," says Joshi-Navneet.
"We also set up the heritage rice seed bank of Swami Dayananda Farms at Manjakkudi. We started with two seed varieties, and today, 260 varieties of heritage rice seeds—endangered and endemic—are being conserved, researched and re-introduced to the market."
The collection has been sourced from farmers and seed banks across Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, Assam, UP, Karnataka, Kerela and Tamil Nadu.
"After the seed festival, the farmers were sowing these seeds on small patches only for personal consumption. They believed there wasn't enough awareness or a market for those seed varieties to be sold."
So, to create awareness of heritage rice, educate consumers, encourage them to try, and create a demand for them, Spirit of the Earth was born.
Among the challenges was correcting pre-conceived notions that rice isn't good for health and changing a fifty-plus year lifestyle of consuming polished hybrid rice varieties.
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Over time, Spirit of the Earth has developed a network of trusted seed conservers and farmers from across the country.
"Sometimes we get only 25g of seeds, which we need to cultivate for five or six seasons to get at least 10 kg," said Joshi-Navneet. "We worked with CIKS (Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS), a registered independent trust working in organic agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and IMO to obtain organic certification."
Apart from cultivation, Spirit of the Earth helps farmers find markets in India and abroad.
New product introductions and workshops on health benefits and usage are done every few months. Information cards on each of the grains and a recipe are given with every purchase. The brand also encourages farm visits for parents and children to continue the conversation on heritage rice, experiential learning, and understanding organic farming at the grassroots level.
(Neeti Jaychander is a journalist, writer and lecturer based in Chennai)
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