The Better India · 12 hours ago

Why India’s Indigenous Rice Varieties Are Making a Comeback Across Farms and Global Kitchens

Across India, farmers are returning to rice varieties their ancestors cultivated for centuries - not out of nostalgia, but survival. After the Green Revolution replaced more than 100,000 indigenous strains with uniform hybrids, climate extremes are now revealing what was lost: grains that withstand floods, droughts, and saline soil without chemicals. In Jharkhand, where excess monsoon rains destroyed hybrid crops last year, farmer Dinbharan Nageshiya watched his traditional varieties thrive: "All farmers who grew hybrid paddy lost their crops, while those with indigenous varieties had good harvests." From the cyclone-battered Sundarbans to tribal villages preserving black rice, these seeds - once dismissed as relics - are becoming lifelines, carrying within them both ancient wisdom and practical answers to an uncertain future.