Wayanad Rice Festival

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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