2023-04-24 18:48:38
As the director of the World Food Program recently declared that the world is facing the worst food crisis since World War II, environmentalist-turned-scientist Debal Deb is growing more than 70 species of rice in eastern India which have completely disappeared elsewhere in the world.
For more than 30 years, Debal Deb has kept indigenous rice species on his farm, which he collects from all over the planet. “Our stock contains varieties of rice that come from 16 different states in India, but also from Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines, Italy”, he lists in the 7:30 p.m.
Nearly 1500 varieties
A total of 1440 varieties of rice lie in Debal Deb’s warehouses. By saving these seeds, he hopes to be able to revive them anywhere, depending on climate change and the needs of farmers.
“We are the last repositories of these seeds, as we continue to grow them every year, harvest them and study them. Some of these varieties are drought resistant rice, some are flood resistant… They are resources for food security and it is also a way to fight once morest climate change.”
Better yields
In the surrounding fields, farmers are already benefiting from Debal Deb’s rice bank. Loknath Nauri recently abandoned government-provided seeds to plant an old variety, specially adapted to its soils. As a result, his harvests more than doubled.
“The seeds that I collected at the rice bank do not consume water and give me a very good yield. I have gone from two quintals harvested to four, five and sometimes seven quintals”, rejoices the farmer. .
Like him, more than 8,000 farmers across India are now reviving the indigenous seeds of Debal Deb.
Abhijeet Pandey and Antoine Védeilhé/ash
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