Why Plan Prepared by Top Rice Scientist Dr. Richharia Has Increased Relevance Now

The name of Dr. R.H. Richharia, India’s top rice scientist, is invariably remembered whenever there is a discussion on protecting small farmers and family farms as well as heritage of seed diversity saved by generations of small farmers. He was willing to sacrifice his top official positions and jobs for protecting the interests of farmers and farming. A brilliant student who got his doctorate from Cambridge in record time, he was blessed by his teacher to serve the farmers of India, and he did this with great dedication all his life. Rising fast on the basis of his brilliance to become the director of top rice research institutes, he left an indelible impact on the most important work of protecting and utilizing the immensely rich heritage of indigenous rice varieties. Dr. Richharia himself catalogued thousands of rice varieties and cultivars with their characteristics in a rice encyclopedia, a work he pursued for years and which he showed me during my visit to his home. with their characteristics in a rice encyclopedia on which he was working for years and which he showed me at the time of my visit to his home.

He also kindly shared with me a copy of a plan for rice suited best to conditions of India which he titled ‘A silent rice revolution – a specific plan of action for increase in productivity of rice’. With his permission I also included this plan as well as its summary in a book I wrote soon after meeting him titled The Work and Life of Dr. R.H. Richharia. While this plan was prepared in the context of India, a lot of what it says has a wider relevance for several other countries which grow rice as a leading crop. This specific plan of action was formulated by Dr. Richharia at the request of the Prime Minister’s office in 1983-84. However, following the tragic assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1984 somehow the plan got neglected. This is a particularly suitable time to revive this plan keeping in view new emerging risks.

Dr. Richharia, who lived and worked independently in Bhopal at that time, soon suffered great health deterioration due to the Carbide gas leak disaster and could not follow up the matter on his own. However when this writer met him well before his death, he still had hopes that one day this document will prove very helpful for rice farmers and farming. In any case this will always remain an invaluable document for all sincerely concerned with this task and there should be wider information about this.

An idea about the stature of Dr. Richharia can be had from the fact that even though in the era of spreading the false hopes of the so-called green revolution the government victimized him while he was holding the top rice scientist job in the country, his learning was considered so important that the government was constrained on three occasions to recall him from his retirement to seek his advice and give him important responsibilities. He was for several years the Director of Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI-Indian’s more important center of rice research), a post which he left in the early days of the green revolution in stormy conditions in the mid-1960s. He was first recalled to head a national task-force on rice breeding, then to set up a rice research institute in Raipur (Chhattisgarh (at that time a part of Madhya Pradesh)) and then finally he was contacted by the Prime Minister’s office to prepare a plan for improving rice yields.

The rice plan prepared by Dr. Richharia has become even more relevant in recent times due to three factors. Firstly, as the threat of climate change has increased, it has become even more important to adopt natural farming, avoiding chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. As an original resistor of Green Revolution technology, particularly in the context of rice, Dr. Richharia’s ideas and plans are more relevant today, given the increased need to reduce the fossil fuel burden of farming. Secondly, as indigenous varieties, which evolved over several generations through farmers’ efforts, are most important for natural farming, Dr. Richharia’s ideas and plans—based on protecting these varieties—have become even more important. This becomes even more important given the highly disastrous efforts to impose and spread gene-edited rice varieties. varieties. Thirdly, the present times are times of big business interests and multinational companies trying very aggressively to seize control of world food and farming systems at the cost of small farmers and family farms, in the process also causing grave harm to rural communities as well as to health and environment. The more their technologies, like GM and GE crops, are exposed through legal cases relating to serious health hazards, the more desperate these entities become to seize increasing control (learning from mistakes is not in their dictionary). Due to these three factors, the ideas and work of Dr. Richharia, who stood up so bravely against big business pressures, have become of increasing importance not just in India but in the entire world, particularly the global south.

Now we come to Dr. Richharia’s ‘specific plan for action for increase in productivity of rice’. First he identifies the factors which have retarded the increase in rice productivity despite so much increase in investments in the form of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, research, extension etc. Then he gives his plan. In brief Dr. Richharia’s plan has four basic components –

1. Rice development to be based on the rich diversity of indigenous rice varieties which should be saved on farmers’ fields and a lot of priority and attention should be given to this aspect;
2. A highly decentralized extension approach;
3. Large scale adoption of clonal propagationAsexual Plant ReproductionA method of plant reproduction that creates genetically identical copies (clones) of a parent plant from a single cell, tissue, or organ. technique to spread improved indigenous varieties and
4. Very high levels of involvement of rice farmers with special emphasis on encouraging those farmers who have special skills and interest in protection and promotion of diverse indigenous varieties.

According to Dr. Richharia (all quotes from the plan) “The main constraint has been the hurried introduction of undesirable new rice material—the HYVs or High Yielding Varieties (dwarfs)—on which we based our strategy, simultaneously overlooking unexpected drought situations under which HYVs lowered yields. or High Yielding Varieties (dwarfs) on which we based our strategy, forgetting at the same time unexpected drought situations, under which the HYVs lowered the yields. In addition, under heavy fertilization and irrigation the HYVs proved to be susceptible to diseases and pests, which cannot be controlled easily, thus again pointing towards a reduction in yield. Further, unlike wheat and sugarcane, the concept of ‘wider adaptability’ in rice has a limited scope for application (not exceeding 10 per cent of the rice area). This has naturally led to local preferences of different types of rice and socio-economic adjustments, developed in course of time.” So, Dr. Richharia concludes, when the base itself is weak (referring to the new rice material), a mansion built on it must collapse. In other words what he was stating was that rice development should not take place on the limited genetic base of exotic green revolution varieties.

Fortunately, indigenous high-yielding varieties adapted to local environment are available in the country. In a survey carried out in Madhya Pradesh (which then included Chattisgarh) between 1971-74, 8 per cent of the indigenous rice types were observed to fall under the category of high yielding types, with a minimum yield of 3705 kg/Ha. In view of this there is a need to redefine ‘HYVs,’ which hitherto have been officially identified only with exotic dwarf, fertilizer-responsive varieties, so that indigenous high-yielding seed varieties can be recognized more clearly. Many of these varieties are also widely appreciated for their other distinctive traits such as better cooking quality of various kinds, aroma, fragrance etc.

Dr. Richharia recommends strongly, “It is high time that the country’s 1964-65 breeding program, which nearly stands suspended, is resumed to exploit indigenous rice germplasm. This is especially pertinent given the observations recorded above, as about 445 improved varieties—bred for specific stress situations and showing environmental resistance to diseases and pests—were available and would still be available in the country., is also resumed in the light of the observations, recorded above, when about 445 improved varieties, bred for specific stress situations, showing environmental resistance to diseases and pests were available, and would be still available, in the country. It is not too late and the strategy formulated in this program, mainly based on our rice genetic resources may be accepted which also contemplates that the indigenous germplasm in its hybridized form (hybrid rices) has also bright future to enhance rice productivity.”

Selection work (genetic upgrading) with indigenous rice types was resumed by Dr. Richharia in 1968 after leaving Cuttack “About 1500 improved types (improved versions) and eleven composites were developed and made available by 1978 selected from about 7800 principal indigenous rice cultivars. The approach was to release this hidden production force, which remains unnoticed, unrecognized, and confined to certain localities with individual growers.”

“For high yield potential, genetic upgrading of adapted rice varieties (indigenous rice germplasm) with certain manipulations—such as the evolution of new hybrids and exploiting hybrid vigor using pure material of local types—is the only course left for speedy recovery of loss and to stabilize rice production at a higher level. This approach is preferable to waiting to replace our rice with other rice material of doubtful nature, which may or may not adapt to stabilize yields in India’s variable rice-growing environments.”