Cultivation of traditional crop varieties is decreasing day by day, the major reason being low productivity compared to the high yielding varieties (HYV). The only way to encourage farmers to grow these is to create a market for them and make consumers aware about the speciality and nutritional aspects of these crops.

“Take the case of Wayanad. There were about 105 traditional rice varieties cultivated here as per early records. But today this has dropped to 35 out of which less than 10 are now extensively cultivated in the district.

“If the situation continues it will take only a few more years for the erosion of this vast genetic wealth,” says Dr. Anil Kumar, Director, MSSRF, Kalpetta............Read More

Source: The Hindu