Wayanad Rice Festival

About Wayanad Rice Festival:

• The initiative aims to sensitise people to the significance of conserving traditional crops that have the ability to withstand harsh climatic conditions.
• Thanal has been organising annual “rice field weeks” since 2012.
• The festival also sets the stage for knowledge sharing and co-creation of knowledge between tribal farmers and experts.
• Thanal also launched the Rice Diversity Block (RDB) at Panavally under the Save Our Rice campaign in 2009, with a collection of 30 varieties of rice.
• Most of the varieties were collected from Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
• Many varieties are drought-resistant and flood-tolerant, while others have aromatic and medicinal properties.
• The Thondy variety, a traditional and popular rice among the people in Wayanad a few decades ago, could compete with any hybrid rice in terms of productivity.
• Black rice varieties are rich in minerals like zinc, iron and other nutrients.
• India had nearly 1.5 lakh varieties of rice, with about 3,000 varieties unique to Kerala.

Q1) What is Ikki Jathre?

It is a campaign launched by a Kerala-based organisation, Thanal that aims to raise awareness about the value of preserving indigenous crops that can resist extreme weather conditions.

Source: The Hindu