Agriculture minister urges farmers to cultivate forgotten varieties of rice

Kolkata: Purnendu Bose, state Agriculture minister on Friday urged farmers to cultivate varieties of rice that have become nearly extinct.

He assured every help to the farmers and instructed officials of the Agriculture department to create awareness among people about these varieties. He assured that the department will help the farmers to adopt organic farming methods.

He hailed Chaitanya Chandradaya Agricultural Trust (CCAT) and felt that this will set an example in Bengal and hoped that more farmers will come forward and accept this method of farming.

He participated in a day-long awareness programme on folk rice production and conservation at Mayapur on Friday morning. It was organised by CCAT.

For the past few of month, CCAT has been trying to revive forgotten varieties of aromatic rice like Radha Tilak, Kala Bhat, Dudheshwar, Hamai, Jhumpuri, Khara and Balam to name a few.

The technical support was provided by Agricultural Training Centre (ATC), Fulia.

After examining the varieties, agricultural scientists opined that the weather and soil are conducive for the production of these types of rice. The cultivation is carried out without any artificial chemicals and these rice varieties are free from health hazards.

A team of ATC led by Anupam Paul interacted with local farmers at the ISKON Mayapur campus.

Paul said that the initiative was launched to bring back traditional aromatic varieties of rice by using natural methods, without using any chemicals.

He urged the farmers not to use chemicals to enhance production because in the long run, it will badly affect the environment.

The farmers showed great enthusiasm and inquired about the extinct varieties and the method of production.