5 ms·

One my high school project in India was to do a detailed study of "native" rice varieties from my village. I ended up winning a national level prize for it. My

One my high school project in India was to do a detailed study of "native" rice varieties from my village. I ended up winning a national level prize for it. My village had over 30 different varieties of rice which the central planners of country would dub as "backward". Backed by centralized international bodies such as UN, WHO etc. (probably pressure from US etc.) we were told these native varieties were inefficient and lacked nutrients. We were then provided seeds of "higbreed" rice which gave us lot more yield per acre for couple of years and reached much lower yield levels after 5 years. It tastes as shit. Since the original seeds were lost except in seed banks maintained by local temples it was not possible to bring back our old varieties. Now the government begs us to grow back the native rice. We can't as rice farming has become economically less attractive to us.

luckylion 6y ago
So you can't use seeds from the seed banks to grow rice? What are the seed banks for then, are they just ceremonial?
- stuaxo 6y ago
  Read to the end, it's because it's uneconomical.
  - luckylion 6y ago
    I did read that, but it's conflicting with the previous paragraph ending with it was not possible to bring back our old varieties. I understood that to mean that they were not able to bring back the old varieties (at some point in the past) and now the government wants them to re-grow them, but they've moved on from rice-farming because it's not economical (because of lower yields).
    - kjs3 6y ago
      I don't think any of that is conflicting; probably just a quirk of language. Agriculture requires infrastructure and space. If you've moved on from rice farming because it's not economical, it might not be possible to bring back old varieties because the infrastructure is gone, or the rice paddys have been covered with buildings, or some such.
doitLP 6y ago
Sounds like one of hundreds or thousands Of similar stories across the world over the last 100 years, as “modern” western farming techniques and seeds were pushed on communities around the world. James C Scott’s Seeing Like a State really opened my eyes about the history and reasons for this.
markdown 6y ago
Vandana Shiva has quite a bit to say on this topic.
webmobdev 6y ago
I have mixed feelings about this - thanks to the adoption of some modern agricultural practices India can today feed their population without being dependent on foreign countries. If I remember my history / geography lessons right: - The 'green' revolution made us self-sufficient in growing enough food to feed our large population. - The 'white' revolution made India one of the largest producer of milk and diary products in the world today. - The 'yellow' revolution made it possible for India to be the largest producers of vegetable oil in the world today. But it is true that the cost of this was the slow demise of many indigenous crops. However, with a growing economy (well, now it is in a downward spiral), many indigenous crops are making a return in India albeit they are costlier and not as affordable as some of the cheaper white rice. More on this here: - https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/millets-and-organic/article26037453.ece https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/millets-and-organic/... > “Millets have been a part of Indian diet for a long time. However, the influence of Western food habits and the goverment’s green revolution that pushed for rice and wheat, reduced the production as well as the consumption of millets. But, efforts of some State governments like Karnataka in popularising millets has helped in rekindling the value of these grains.” - https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/the-rise-of-native/article25909866.ece https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/the-rise-of-nat...

luckylion 6y ago

So you can't use seeds from the seed banks to grow rice? What are the seed banks for then, are they just ceremonial?

stuaxo 6y ago
Read to the end, it's because it's uneconomical.
- luckylion 6y ago
  I did read that, but it's conflicting with the previous paragraph ending with it was not possible to bring back our old varieties. I understood that to mean that they were not able to bring back the old varieties (at some point in the past) and now the government wants them to re-grow them, but they've moved on from rice-farming because it's not economical (because of lower yields).
  - kjs3 6y ago
    I don't think any of that is conflicting; probably just a quirk of language. Agriculture requires infrastructure and space. If you've moved on from rice farming because it's not economical, it might not be possible to bring back old varieties because the infrastructure is gone, or the rice paddys have been covered with buildings, or some such.

doitLP 6y ago

Sounds like one of hundreds or thousands Of similar stories across the world over the last 100 years, as “modern” western farming techniques and seeds were pushed on communities around the world. James C Scott’s Seeing Like a State really opened my eyes about the history and reasons for this.

markdown 6y ago

Vandana Shiva has quite a bit to say on this topic.

webmobdev 6y ago

I have mixed feelings about this - thanks to the adoption of some modern agricultural practices India can today feed their population without being dependent on foreign countries. If I remember my history / geography lessons right: - The 'green' revolution made us self-sufficient in growing enough food to feed our large population. - The 'white' revolution made India one of the largest producer of milk and diary products in the world today. - The 'yellow' revolution made it possible for India to be the largest producers of vegetable oil in the world today. But it is true that the cost of this was the slow demise of many indigenous crops. However, with a growing economy (well, now it is in a downward spiral), many indigenous crops are making a return in India albeit they are costlier and not as affordable as some of the cheaper white rice. More on this here: - https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/millets-and-organic/article26037453.ece https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/millets-and-organic/... > “Millets have been a part of Indian diet for a long time. However, the influence of Western food habits and the goverment’s green revolution that pushed for rice and wheat, reduced the production as well as the consumption of millets. But, efforts of some State governments like Karnataka in popularising millets has helped in rekindling the value of these grains.” - https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/the-rise-of-native/article25909866.ece https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/the-rise-of-nat...