Cultivation of traditional rice landraces for human health and food security

Title : Cultivation of traditional rice landraces for human health and food security

Abstract:

In Asia, more than two billion people are getting sixty to seventy per cent of their energy requirement from rice and its derived products. Many rice varieties with medicinal value are cultivated and used in certain pockets in states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Western Ghats in India. These rice types, being the local land races is exploited by the rural folks to treat skin disease, blood pressure, fever, rheumatism, lactation and used also as a health tonic. Some of the rice landrace types are used in sidda and ayurvedic for exploiting the curative value and is used in many medicinal preparations. The trend towards health consciousness, has made to re look the traditional varieties recently experiencing an increasing trend among consumers and the profitable market is reversing and focussing towards traditional varieties, due to their incredible health benefits. India is rich in rice land race bio-diversity. The traditional rice landrace cultivation are confined to certain pockets depending on the suitability of local climate and soil type, under varied level and quantity of water requirement, also having high degree of resistance to pests and diseases, known to have specific nutritional and therapeutic properties. Cultivation of rice landraces have survived in many disasters in comparison to HYV and popular rice varieties. The traditional varieties are exploited in sidda medicine, due to medicinal properties and health benefits. Hence there is a need for us to revisit and reassess the value that has been attributed to traditional rice by exploiting  cultivation of Rice landraces for human health and food security in future.
Key words: Rice landrace , cultivation, human health

Biography:

Dr.(Mrs) Subbalakshmi Lokanadhan, presently working as Professor of Agronomy  at Water Technology Centre, TNAU, Coimbatore. Worked  as agronomist at Department of Rice and Cotton crop wise and Department of Agronomy. Coimbatore and other constituent colleges in TNAU. Has experience at Directorate of Crop Management / Plant Breeding and Genetics / Planning and Monitoring at TNAU at different time periods of service. Involved  in monitoring of state funded projects in TNAU. Published nearly 170 papers comprising of research, conference, symposium and seminar contributory papers in relation to Agronomy, field/cultural activities, environment protection, reduction in cultivation cost of crops and enhancing crop productivity per unit area. Chaired and guided fifteen post graduate students in Agronomy. Received awards for oral and poster presentation at national and international conferences Obtained award and appreciation for achieving 10 t/ha yield in irrigated Rice crop. Technical committee member for  SRI component under IAMWARM (World Bank) Project and monitoring committee member for evaluation of BT rice at TNAU. Co-ordinated in Agronomy research and teaching both at undergraduate and post graduate level in Department of Agronomy and instrumental in syllabus revision for Agronomy subjects. Visited all rice growing south eastern countries to participate in International trainings and conferences.