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In the hills of Koraput district in Odisha, farming still follows an older rhythm. In Jalaguda village of Kundra block, Rukmini Kilo tends her fields much as her parents did, sowing traditional varieties of rice and millet without chemical inputs. Not far away, in Nuagada village, Raimati Ghiuria does the same. For farmers like them, the choice is both practical and instinctive: these hardy crops fetch better prices in the market, keep their families healthy and the soil fertile.
Among the better-known native varieties of finger millet are jana mandia, dussera mandia, bati mandia and jili mandia. They are well suited to local soils and weather conditions and, unlike hybrid varieties, require little chemical fertiliser and less water. The indigenous rice varieties grown by these farmers are prized not only for their aroma but also for their resilience to extreme weather. One such variety is machhakanta, named after its fish-bone-like awns. This slender, aromatic rice is resistant to floods. Then there are haldichudi and tikichudi, which are valued for their drought tolerance and nutritional qualities. Another prized variety is kalajeera, a black-husked, short-grained, fragrant rice known for its cumin-like appearance and reputed ability to help regulate blood sugar. In 2024, kalajeera received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag through the efforts of Pragati-Koraput, a non-profit that works with tribal farmers in the state.
A survey by the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) in the 1950s identified 1,745 traditional cultivated rice varieties and 150 wild rice varieties in the Koraput region. With the shift towards high-yielding varieties, those numbers have fallen sharply. “Most of the traditional varieties or landraces available today are protected by tribal farmers who largely escaped the Green Revolution that focused on irrigated land, and still practise rainfed agriculture,” says Susanta Sekhar Choudhury, senior programme manager (research) at Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), a non-profit that works on sustainable agriculture in marginalised rainfed regions.
These landraces, also called heritage, heirloom or farmers’ varieties or primitive cultivars, have evolved over generations and are well equipped to withstand the changing climate marked by severe droughts and sudden downpours. They also act as reservoirs of genetic traits linked to nutritional value and tolerance to biological and environmental stresses. Interest in reviving these landraces…
This article was originally published in the June 1-15, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth
