Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s honouring of the Koraput tribals at the 99th Indian Science Congress for their conservation of climate resilient rice and pulses has helped place this backward community in the forefront of the world map.
Ascribing their practices as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage system ( GIAHS), the Prime Minister honoured the tribals, Raita Muduli and Chandra Pradhan, for preserving the traditional agricultural practices of this region.
This is among the 20 GIAHS sites in the world and both these tribal persons received the citation of the Food and Agricultural Organisation from the Prime Minister.
Both Muduli and Pradhan were selected by their villages to accept the award on their behalf. Pradhan, who was more eloquent than the less vocal Raita pointed out, “We work across six-seven villages in Koraput district and are following the traditional practices of our forefathers. We do not use any fertilisers but do a combination of organic and vermicelli farming and use ‘ayurveda khaad’ whenever required.”
The Koraput region is famous for its rich agricultural biodiversity and is also considered as the Centre of origin of the aus ecotype of rice which is one of the oldest gene pools of rice.
Modern scientists believe the different traditional varieties growing here harbor dominate genes for biotic and biotic stresses, aroma and palatability and can be used in future plant breeding and biotechnology.
Mr Muduli said, “Not only are we preserving traditional rice and vegetable species but we also have many varieties of traditional cattle which have proved to be sturdier than today’s hybrid species.”