This conservator of agricultural diversity has saved many rice varieties from the brink of extinction

A childhood passion for heritage conservation and an unfulfilled desire of chalking out a career as a museologist culminated in this farmer conceiving his own museum -- of rice varieties -- which is one of its kind in Karnataka.

As a student, Syed Ghani Khan of Kirugavalu in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district nurtured a desire of entering the field of archaeology and museums and pursued his studies to in the hope of becoming the curator of a museum.

But fate willed otherwise and family commitments made him switch to agriculture in 1996 and tend to his plot of nearly 15 acres in Kirugavalu.

Agro diversity of India

But the zest for conservation and the curiosity in him led Ghani Khan to explore the world of plants and understand the agro-diversity of India. And to his dismay he discovered that the famed agro-diversity of the country was fast being supplanted by the growing preference for monoculture and the hybrid varieties of crops developed in laboratories.

The preference for hybrid varieties with thrust on higher yield has invariably led to the emergence of monoculture and is also a contributory factor for hundreds of indigenous varieties of rice being pushed to the brink and is no longer cultivated. ‘’It is this realisation that made me collect indigenous or rare varieties of rice from across Karnataka and the country and preserve their seeds and the exercise commenced sometime in 2000-01,’’ recalled Ghani Khan.

An unusual gift

This was preceded by his relative gifting him a sack of nearly 40 strains of paddy and Ghani Khan realised that he knew nothing of their nature or origin and nor were the agricultural scientists aware of some of them. Also, sometime after taking to farming of his ancestral property, Ghani Khan’s health suffered a setback and this was attributed to the chemicals and pesticides with which he used to come in contact during agricultural activity.

‘’It was then that I decided to eschew the so-called modern agriculture with its thrust on the use of chemicals and opted for organic farming sometime during the year 2000,’’ recalled Ghani Khan.

Joining Kerala initative

It was an informal effort on the part of Ghani Khan to preserve rice varieties but his endeavour received a fillip when he got involved in the ‘Save Our Rice’ campaign which began in 2004 at Kumbalangi in Kerala, said Krishnaprasad, founder of Sahaja Samruddha, an organisation actively involved in preservation of indigenous varieties of rice and is also promoting millet cultivation.

The involvement in the Save Our Rice campaign brought Ghani Khan in contact with other rice saviours from across the country like Debal Deb with whom he exchanged different varieties of rice and thus increased his collection, he added.

What began as a small initiative grew organically and as on date Ghani Khan has a treasure trove of 1350 varieties and strains of paddy in his collection which he has exhibited in his private museum at Kirugavalu. And the collection tends to grow with each passing year or tour of Ghani Khan in quest of the obscure rice varieties that takes him across the country.

Exotic varieties, exotic names

The paddy museum occupies a part of his house on the farm itself and visitors get introduced to exotic strains of paddy with their equally exotic sounding names like Gandhasale, Rajamudi, Mysuru Mallige, Ratnachoodi, Chinna Ponni, Salem Sanna, Jeerge Sanna, Bilinellu, Burma Black, Black Jasmine from Thailand, Raskadam, Rakthashali to name a few.

‘’Our of nearly 15 acres of land, 1 acre of the plot is for rice conservation and seed production while the remaining land is used for cultivating other agricultural produce - through organic means - for self-sustenance and income generation,’’ says Ghani Khan.

His demonstration plot also has shades of different hues depending on the paddy strain cultivated for seed production like the purple coloured Nazar Battha from Maharasthra or the black coloured Kaala Nouni from Assam.

While the cultivation of different varieties and strains of paddy does not add to the family income, it has brought a sense of satisfaction to Ghani Khan that he has preserved a slice of agricultural heritage to posterity.

‘’So far over 15,000 farmers have procured seeds of different strains of paddy from me and to that extent they have been retrieved from the brink of extinction,’’ says Ghani Khan. While some of the paddy strains are commercially cultivable on a large scale many are heirloom varieties, he added.

Stream of visitors

His Paddy Museum attracts visitors from across the country including agricultural students, farmers, scientists, NGOs working in the field of agriculture, conservationists as also research scholars.

‘’We conduct classes depending on their requirement highlighting the benefits of different strains, speak about their origin etc and this comes in handy for students of agriculture as well while lot of farmers visit the farm and seek information on value addition to shore up income,’’ said Ghani Khan indicating that the museum is a hub of knowledge sharing and information exchange for farmers.

Though not a believer of hybridization, Ghani Khan did cross pollinate two varieties of paddy -  Salem Sanna and HMT – and christened it SH but did not pursue the exercise further. ‘’What have evolved naturally suitable to the local environment are drought and pest resistant. But the hybrid varieties only add to the cost of cultivation,’’ says Ghani Khan underlining his scepticism of the current emphasis on hybrid varieties.

Issue of input costs

The hybrid varieties are encouraged and is the norm in the present times in pursuit of higher yield. But the agricultural input cost by way of pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers etc have increased thus reducing farmers income, explained Krishnaprasad.

In the farming world and among those involved in agricultural activism, the work of Syed Ghani Khan is well known. And in recognition of his efforts, he received the Krishi Pandit award from the Karnataka Government in 2008, Krishi Jeeva Vaividya award in 2010 and in 2012 he was awarded the prestigious Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Award instituted by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Solar-powered mill

Apart from paddy conservation, Ghani Khan recently established a solar powered rice mill which meets the requirements of farmers with small land holdings. Though a solar powered rice mill is not the first of its kind in the region as there are other examples, Ghani Khan’s mill is an example of a community-level initiative that can cater to the requirements of farmers with small-scale production unlike the giant commercial mills, explained Krishnaprasad.

While Ghani Khan’s fame in the farming world rests on his collection of different strains of paddy, he is also the inheritor of another slice of heritage from his forefathers some of whom were employed by the 18th century ruler Tipu Sultan.

A rich heritage in mangoes

‘’There are 120 varieties of mangoes in his orchard called Badaa Baagh and the exotic varieties are not found anywhere else. This includes Mosambikaam which has the taste of a sweet lime while the Sebaam is akin to an apple in terms of colour and taste. But this year there has been no yield so far due to drought,’’ said Ghani Khan. Incidentally, the National Innovation FoundationA -India facilitated the on-site evaluation of the variety by the scientists of ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Bengaluru.

While value addition to paddy hinges on food products made of rice to increase profitability of rice cultivation and production, Ghani Khan, supported by his family members, have begun to use paddy husk and rice to make decorative items including Torana, jewellery etc which has the potential to increase farmers’ income.

For someone who wished to be a curator of a museum preserving archaeological and cultural artifacts when he was a student, Ghani Khan’s journey as a farmer took a different trajectory altogether. He is now the custodian and preserver of a slice of agricultural heritage that was on the brink of extinction and he has enabled their conservation.