Gajani Kagga needs to be saved, with a GI tag

BENGALURU: This Gajani is not going to do battle. Instead needs to be rescued! Gajani Kagga crop, a paddy variety, which is being forgotten and lost with the rising hybrid varieties and aquaculture, desperately hopes the Centre will ‘rice’ to the occasion and give it a Geographical-Indication (GI) tag.

At present, the local farmers, through their association, are protecting the last remaining area. With the losses in aquaculture, farmers are also now demanding seeds from the government to cultivate it again.

The Karnataka Biodiversity Board (KBB) has written to the central government recommending that GI tag be given to Gajani Kagga variety (Oryza sativa), which is now sown in a small pocket of Kumta in Uttara Kannada district. The saline-tolerant variety is unique to coastal regions.

Ananth Hegde Ashisara, chairman of the Board, told The New Indian Express: “The Board took the decision because of this variety’s uniqueness and the threat it faces. It needs protection and recognition and so we have asked the Ministry of Commerce to give it a GI tag because of the agro-biodiversity of the region.” Experts from Kumta said this was much required.

Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute (Empri) in its Agro-Diversity report, prepared eight years back on the unique varieties of paddy, had listed Gajani Kagga, pointing that it needs protection.

Gajani Kagga threatened since 90s

Prof. V N Nayak, Department of Marine Biology, Karnataka University, Karwar, said this paddy grows in areas where sea water inundates the land. The crop has been facing threat since 1990s, when dams were built, and the land was converted for brackish water (Tiger) Prawn cultivation.

“The rice is a little bigger, rich in protein, has high fibre content, is a rich source of energy and healthy for diabetics. It is a favoured food of locals,” Nayak said. Prakash Mesta, KBB member, said that of the 1.20 lakh rice varieties documented by Britshers, only 20,000-25,000 local varieties remain and Kagga is one of them. “Of the total 3,000 acres in Gajani land, only 5% has Kagga paddy left. The uniqueness of the crop is that it does not need fertilisers and the crop survives even if it’s submerged in water for a week,” he said.