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Richhariya was an agri-scientist, who worked with the Government of India for decades. Richariya estimates that India was home to more than 2 lakh varieties of Traditional paddy seeds.If a man eats 3 traditional rice varieties a day, he should live 183 years to taste all the traditional rices of India.
India's traditional farmers were able to breed medicinal rice varieties that could treat deadly diseases like Diabetics, Anemia, ADHD, Alzheimer's disease and to reduce the risk of illness and death from diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. Recent advanced scientific studies have found that many of our indigenous traditional rice varieties have micronutrients that are essential for human body's normal functioning. These nutritions are absent in hybrid rice we eat.
Our traditional farmers were also able to breed aromatic rice which gave unique pleasant smell to the rice. They were able to breed rice that doesn't need cooking at all. Just after soaking for a few minutes, the rice will be ready to eat. They were able to breed rice which is healthy for lactating mothers. They were able to breed rice varieties that could improve male sex hormone, testosterone levels. The list goes on.
Farmers were also able breed paddy varieties that were flood tolerant, saline resistant paddy that could be grown near sea shores, drought resistant paddy that can be grown without much water etc. Many villages in India had their own paddy seeds that grow well according to local geographic conditions like soil and other local geographic and climatic conditions. Such was the diversity and the genetic wealth of India's traditional paddy. It took hundreds of years for farmers to breed these paddy seeds with such an unique traits.
But, right now, farmers have only less than 2 thousand varieties out of 2 lakh traditional rice varieties. Remaining 99% of our traditional paddy varieties have gone "extinct", which means its no longer available with any farmer. The Vast Genetic wealth that our traditional farmers gathered for thousands of years is lost just in a generational span of 60 years in the name of "Green revolution" and modern agriculture.
Traditional Paddy Seeds of India
Our Story
India has became the diabetes capital of the world. Incidence of diabetes among young children has increasing rapidly. India has one of the highest burdens of heart related diseases in the world. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in India. 1 in 3 deaths of India happen due to heart related disease. Doctors says this trend will worsen in coming years. This could be regarded to the so called modern lifestyle and food that we eat. The problem becomes worsen, with modern agriculture, when our hybrid food crops are sprayed with chemical toxins like pesticides and fertilizers making our food quality and health worse in every possible way creating a public health crisis.
Today, more than 99% of rice we eat are hybrid rices. These hybrid rice varieties that we eat today, don't have the enough nutrition in them in comparision to our traditional rice varieties. Nutrition are essential elements for the proper functioning of our body. Without proper nutrition, humans will face variety health issues from malnutrition, poor brain development, decreased cognitive functions and heart related diseases leading to death. 1 in 2 children of India is malnutritioned. These children though may look healthy from outside but their brain and body can't function normally. India ranks 111 out of 125 countries in the Global hunger index. The report says India’s hunger is more acute than sub-Saharan Africa. We eat enough. But there is no nutrition in it. This is the reason for malnutrition and many other diseases which can be easliy addressed with traditional rices.
Handpound Rice
Traditionally, in Indian villages, women used to process paddy in their homes. They usually use a wooden mortar and pestle to do it. This mode of processing paddy is very effective in retaining the nutrition of rice. This Rice is called as Handpound Rice. This rice is also called Brown rice.
Today, almost all Rice we eat are fully polished rice. Polished rice is one in which outer bran is completely removed to make the rice look white. Traditional rice vary in colorS from red, black, purple, orange and even green. Outer layer of rice called bran is very rich in nutritions that are essential for our body. But, today, outer bran is removed to make the rice, when milling to make it look thin and white. Hybrid rice we eat are inherently low nutritious. Polishing and removing the outer bran makes our rice very poor at nutrition leading to to a public nutrition health crisis.
Today, the outer bran of rice removed in milling, is collected and processed to make Rice Bran Oil. This oil is being advertised as nutritious and healthy. People believe it. Why not take the hand-pound brown rice which has outer bran layer intact instead of an oil?
The Reality of Organic stores in India
Initially, we sold out our rice through various organic shops. But, later we found that many products that were sold in organic store are not only organic but are also contaminated by chemical adulteration. Consumers are cheated. Ordinary hybrid chemical rice looks exactly same as the traditional organic rice . These ordinary chemical rices are sold as organic rice.
During Green Revolution, market forces told the farmers to use toxins to produce food, convincing them that it would earn them huge profit. Now, the same market force pushed retailers to sell fake products to increase their profits. Some of these Organic store were also buying and selling organic certified foods. But, organic certification system is so irrelevant in India, that anyone can use chemicals and provide an organic certificate. We finally understood that today's market captialism where profit is the sole motive, can’t feed India.
We need your support to keep this movement alive and thriving. Buying rice from our Richariya farms will help us conserving the endangered Traditional rices of India. It will also helps us to live a healthy life but also to all living beings. We do not torture animals in our farming. We don’t contaminate our environment while growing our food. So, Please consider sharing this with your friends and family. In that way, you shall become the part of the movement towards a Healthier life.
