PATNA: When it comes to innovative farming techniques to counter malnourishment, some Bihar farmers have been pioneers in their way. For, way ahead of government initiatives in farming, they have shown the way by cultivating biofortified rice to provide relief to undernourished stomachs. This shift in farming method – call it a paradigm shift if you may – may prove to be a boon to a state like Bihar that ranks among the lowest in crucial parameters on malnutrition, especially among children who face stunted growth in large numbers.
This pioneering initiative of cultivating biofortified rice kicked off at Kalyanpur-Samartha village of Samastipur district in Bihar when GIST (Global Indian Scientists and Technocrats), a USA-based forum of high-profile technocrats, joined hands with ICAR (Indian Council of Agriculture Research) to make a qualitative impact on the farming sector.
“This rice has a high protein content (10.1%) and Zinc content 20 ppm,” claimed the National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack.
“We took this challenge to connect technology with farmers that would not only enhance their income but also help to fight micronutrient deficiency,” Mohan told this writer.
“A farm at Kalyanpur-Samartha in Samastipur district was selected for some new initiatives and the cultivation of biofortified rice was the beginning. We will go with many more, new technological interventions,” said Ajay Kumar, the man behind the ground level execution of the project.
“It was quite a challenging task to go ahead in a very adverse climatic situation where a large part of our land is waterlogged for more than three months,” noted Kumar.
Meanwhile, praising the support they received from officials, Mohan said, “Some senior officials like Ashok K Singh, DDG, ICAR, took special interest in supporting this initiative by providing technological and other support.”
The cultivation of biofortified rice is sure to fetch a premium price in the market, they feel. “We took up this challenge to connect bio-fortified technology with farmers so that they not only enhance their income but also help them fight micronutrient deficiency,” said Mohan.
The fortified rice may be served in the midday meals of government schools, anganwadis and for food distribution in different programmes of the government targeting mostly poor and undernourished.
Bio-fortification is a step forward for India’s transition from food availability and access to nutrition security and eradicating hidden hunger, said Kumar, while adding: “Bihari thali will soon transform into a nutri-thali with lots of micronutrients with greater replication by farmers in coming days.”
Biofortification, according to Wikipedia, is the idea of breeding crops to increase their nutritional value. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding, or through genetic engineering. Biofortification differs from ordinary fortification because it focuses on making plant foods more nutritious as the plants are growing, rather than having nutrients added to the foods when they are being processed.
Main/featured pic on top courtesy Wikipedia/By International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) – https://www.flickr.com/photos/ricephotos/5516789000/in/set-72157626241604366, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14908001
