SHIMLA: On the verge of extinction, the hill state’s traditional variety of red rice has got a new lease of life due to sustained efforts of the Himachal Pradesh agriculture department.
“With growing health consciousness, environmental concern and the pressing need for updating our food systems to survive climate change, red rice, probably the earliest of cereal grains that humans started domesticating, are making a comeback,” state agriculture minister Virender Kanwar said on Sunday.
Due to shifting of farmers to apple and vegetable cultivation, the area under rice has declined drastically in these areas in the past few decades. Total area under red rice cultivation in the state at present has been recorded as around 1,100 hectares, while its total annual production is 9,926 quintals — around 8-10 quintals per hectare production. Around 4,122 families in the state are growing red rice and efforts will be made to raise the figure to 10,000, he said. The state plans to bring around 4,000 hectare land under red rice cultivation in the next five years and produce around 40,000 quintals.
Kanwar said the Himachal government will provide market linkage and promote branding of red rice to generate its demand in metropolitan cities to boost its cultivation and bring economic prosperity in remote and backward areas of the state. The government is also trying to get the red rice registered under the Geographical Indications (GI) of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, he added.
Generally, farmers grow red rice for domestic use. However, in recent years the red rice crop has fetched remunerative rates of Rs 200 per kg in open market. It is estimated that the crop adds around Rs 340 lakh in the economic basket of the state and fetches four-five times (Rs 200-250/kg average) higher prices than the normal white rice.