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Putting their name on grain of rice -Snehlata Shrivastav
-The Times of India

NAGPUR: Talodhi, a village in Chandrapur district, is emerging as a centre for 'rice breeding' in literal sense. Two retired agricultural scientists from city, a big farming family from the village, the Poshattiwars, and some local farmers have joined hands in developing new genetically pure varieties from locally available varieties.

It would not be an exaggeration if Poshattiwars and their team of farmers are called 'farmer scientists' as they are developing new rice genotypes or selections through scientific methods. In fact, they are doing what an agriculture university or an institute would do without any funding from any agency since 2002. They have already reached the 'foundation seed' (pure seeds produced under supervision of scientists) stage in four varieties including a Basmati like variety. Work on three more selections is at the 'characteristics' verification stage. Over 600 farmers are a part of this exercise.

The pair of extremely dedicated and passionate scientists, Prof Anand Mukewar, retired professor from the Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV), and Sharad E Pawar, retired scientist from Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC), are torch bearers of what they call a 'participatory plant breeding'. They say the new varieties are being developed mainly taking into account farmers' interests like increased yield, scented varieties and the profit margin. In view of the uncertainty in rains at the end of monsoon season, focus was also on developing early maturing selections.

The work of selecting the best quality grains from various locally available varieties and converting them into true to quality (characteristics) took Annasaheb Poshattiwar ten years with guidance from scientists. The team roped in farmers from neighbouring villages as well as those from other rice growing districts in Vidarbha like Bhandara and Gondia in the project during last 3-4 years.

The varieties in the offing and in last couple of years of 'foundation seed' stage are Talodhi Hira-135 (a superfine non-scented), Parvati Chinnor (scented), Talodhi Sona-135 (HMT like variety) and a Basmati like selection-33-2. Those in the pipeline with more superior qualities slated to go for field trials are Palasgaon Sona-135 (scented) and three Basmati like varieties: GP-8, a very early maturing (110 days) one, 23-R and a dwarf of Basmati like variety.

Annasaheb Poshattiwar, project leader, admits he was ignorant of the science behind development of new varieties. "Now all of us have learnt the art of selfing, a process which involves covering of each ear of the rice-bearing grain with butter paper to prevent cross pollination within two plants in the same field to maintain purity of characters in the seeds. These seeds in covered portions become the seeds for next generation and the process continues," he explained.

His daughter in law, Aasawari, has been actually doing this herself. A science graduate, she picked up the technique easily. "I would sit to segregate seeds late nights with Mukewar and Pawar sir and the graders initially. Now I can record all 65 characters in each seed in minutes," she said.

The Poshattiwars and the scientists, however, could have never achieved their target had it not been for Gulabrao Shende, a commerce graduate from Dhanwate National College in Nagpur, who is the informal managing director of the project. "Even if Gulabrao is sleeping and gets a phone call from the two scientists, first thing he does is take out his diary and pen to note the instructions. His meticulous record keeping and scientific skills are extraordinary," said Annasaheb.

It was Annasaheb's experience and intelligence that got the first Basmati-like produce tested for quality by the consumers. He gave the rice to Babbu's hotel in Mominpura to try it in Biryani. It was a hit. In another few years, probably Poshattiwars will be known for the rice they developed.

Timeline of participatory breeding movement

2002- Purified four selected seeds from local germ plasm from the ordinary rice being grown in the region and also from those undergoing natural crossing

2005- Cultivated these four selections for three years to stabilise the characteristics of each selection

2005-08- Conducted yield evaluation of all the four selections

2008-09- Took up seed production at large scale

2009-12 - 600 farmers with their 4000 acres of land are involved in the participatory breeding project conducting field trials and multiplication of seeds by the farmers in different villages in and around Talodhi in Nagbhid, Sindewahi, Pauni tehsils and also some farmers on Bhandara and Gondia, the other two rice growing districts of Vidarbha

Modifications in milling machinery to suit Basmati like variety

Although Poshattiwars had their own rice mill in Talodhi, it could not be used to process the Basmati like variety (33-2) developed by the family. "So I decided to modify certain components of the machines to prevent breaking of the long grains during the shelling (taking out skin or husk from the grain) and during the polishing process. I have also evolved a process of not milling the rice throughout the year," said Annasaheb Poshattiwar, 76, who heads the milling and marketing work.

While processing 33-2, the regular rubber with 88 degrees hardness used in milling other rice varieties is replaced by that of 84-85. During the single touch polishing (2-2.5%) care is taken to now let the rice temperature increase beyond a point.

Nilesh, Annasaheb's second son who assists him, says that after first polishing, the rice is filled in gunny backs to allow aeration and cooling down. Re-polishing is then done 4-5 times before the rice is ready for consumption. Since Basmati is mainly grown and processed in north India, Poshattiwars have brought special rubber from Delhi. They are using the conventional Dandekar tray at present for separation and polishing but the family is planning to add latest technology where the grains go vertical instead of horizontal in the machine minimizing breakages.

Aim met but ambition still on

When Prof Mukewar and Pawar first decided to take up breeding experiments with Talodhi's Poshattiwars who have the resources like land (about 250 acres), water, manpower, expertise and experience of processing and marketing, they had very big dreams.

They wanted to convert the rice bowl of Vidarbha into a self-sustained export oriented market. They wished to develop both straight as well as hybrid varieties of rice suited specifically to the region and ones that could fetch adequate profit to the farmer at minimum cost.

The scientists say in ten years they have met their basic aim but they are still far from meeting their ambition. "We have developed four new selections, both scented and non-scented. Due to lack of infrastructural facilities with Vidarbha farmers, we could not develop a hybrid. The battle is still on though. We both are 70-year-olds but if anyone is ready to take up this work, we are ready to guide them," said Pawar.

His college classmate-cum-main guide of the project, Mukewar wishes that the rice farmers form a group or cooperative of their own and market their produce. He says that the experiment was targeted at developing varieties to suit consumers taste and farmers' profit. "Unless farmer has a control over the market, he can never convert agriculture into a profitable industry. Actually farmer should have control over the entire process right from seeds, breeding, production, processing and marketing," said Mukewar.

The project has already achieved the target of reducing the crop duration period from about 150 days to 135 to 120 to 110 days in different selections. Here Pawar used irradiation, his expertise area at BARC, to reduce the maturation period of crop. All emerging varieties have synchronous tillers property, quality of grains is good enough for both domestic and export market and the yields are relatively high in almost all new varieties. "So we have achieved our aim but our dreams/ambition is still not met," said Mukewar.

WAY AHEAD

* Complete data generation in two years and submit proposal for certification of the seeds of the four (two scented - including one Basmati-like 33-2- and non-scented) selections and registering them as varieties with Indian Council of Agricultural Research and union ministry of agriculture and cooperation under the protection of plant varieties and farmers right authority.

* Give Palasgaon Sona-135, a scented selection, seeds to farmers for multiplication and field trials which is already under seed production by Poshattiwars

* Put the newly identified a dwarf Basmati like variety (GP-8) under field trials with 25 farmers for yield assessment. This selection has very low duration of just 110 days.

* Put another new Basmati-like variety 23-R for yield stabilisation trials. It can go up to 25 quintals per acre.

Farmers' take

* WHO: Vilas Shrungarpawar, a former state minister of education, from Ranala village in Pauni taluka who is into agriculture since 15 years and is conducting trials of Parvati Sona-2, Palasgaon Sona-135 and Basmati-like 33-2 variety

QUOTE: Average Vidarbha farmer neither has enough land nor the courage to experiment. Hence it is the duty of people like us to give them better varieties suited for the region. I could reduce the cultivation cost in some trials by almost Rs8000. I got my soil tested and accordingly reduced the fertilizer input of NPK and replaced it with micro-nutrients like boron, zinc, copper sulphate etc

* WHO: Ganpat Thikare from village Sawargaon in Nagbhid tehsil in Chandrapur district participating in trials of Hira-135 for past four years

QUOTE: Though my average yield has been 17-19 quintals per acre, I have also got 22-25 quintals per acre sometimes. Definitely Hira-135 is much better than other varieties grown in region

* WHO: Prafull M Patel from village Umrer conducting trials of Basmati-like 33-2

QUOTE: Last year I took Basmati on just one acre. But I got very good yield of about 19-20 quintals so I have put my all eight acres under it this year. Since there is no Basmati mill in our area, Annsaheb Poshattiwar has given us buy back guarantee. This is going to be the crop of future in rice growing area in Vidarbha

* WHO: Namdeo Borkar from village Seoni Shikada in Sindewahi tehsil in Chandrapur district also involved in Hira-135 trials

QUOTE: I am getting a yield of 15-18 quintals per acre for last two years. I plan to continue to be a part of the trials