Exhibition on Genetic Diversity of Indian Rice

Gene Campaign had organized an exhibition on “Genetic Diversity of Indian Rice” on 4-5th July, 2008 at the India International Centre. This exhibition was held as part of a series of programs run jointly by the India International Centre and Gene Campaign called the “Road to India's Food Security”. It showcased the genetic diversity of rice grown by the tribal communities of Jharkhand and Orissa, with the help of posters, photographs and samples.

The exhibition commenced with Dr. Suman Sahai of Gene Campaign delivering a talk on “Genetic Diversity is the Basis of Food Security” on the 4th. She stressed that genetic diversity in crop varieties, livestock, forest species, aquaculture and in soil, hold the key to maintaining sustainability in food production under the onslaught of global warming and climate change.

She dealt with the need to protect this genetic diversity and prevent its erosion, especially in India, which is the centre of origin and diversity for several food crops, including rice.

Dr. Sahai also talked about Gene Campaign’s efforts to conserve this agrobiodiversity by setting up seed- gene banks of traditional crop varieties in the villages of Jharkhand and Uttaranchal. The gene/seed/ bank model is an attempt to foster a sustainable, longer-term basis for self-reliance in food and to conserve the diminishing agro-biodiversity of the principle food crops of the region, by involving communities.

The gene banks have collected a large variety of traditional seeds from the farmers’ fields, which include the seeds of paddy, millets, vegetables and pulses. The exhibition displayed traditional rice varieties in Gene Campaign’s gene bank collection from the states of Jharkhand and Orissa. These numerous species of rice have special characteristics, like the varieties that are aromatic, pest- resistant, flood- resistant, drought- resistant, high yielding and also varieties having medicinal properties.

It is important to ensure the long term conservation of this genetic material for future breeding work, so that the genes contained in this agro biodiversity are not lost as traditional varieties get displaced. These genes should be conserved so that as climate, biotic and abiotic conditions change/vary, plant breeders can use these properties/ genetic traits to breed new crop varieties for the changed situation, like drought and salinity tolerance and tolerance to high temperature, resistance to diverse pests and high yield

Please click here to view photos of the exhibition.