Traditional rice seed savers

As part of my search for traditional rice seeds for natural farming, came across some interesting people who knows the importance of traditional rice seeds and try to conserve them. It is interesting to note that there are many traditional varieties which can yields of 2-3 tonnes per acre and can out perform HYVs, so this suggest that if traditional seed varieties are developed properly, then the green revolution itself was not required !!!

1. Prakash Raghuvamshi 

Raghuvamshi is a 50 years old farmer from UP. He began developing a living seed bank on 3 acres of land and chose wheat, paddy, arhar and moong seeds for their high yields, disease resistance and ability to adapt to sudden climate changes.He has developed 80 varieties of wheat, 25 varieties of paddy, 10 varieties of arhar, besides moong, peas, mustard, papaya, ladiesfinger and vegetable varieties. All of their seeds can be saved as they are open pollinated seeds.His paddy varieties yield 25-30 quintals per acre and his wheat varieties 18-20 quintals per acre. For a traditional paddy yield of 25-30 quintals is extremely good yield, I have heard that the best High yielding variety gives around  8 tons per hectre which is 3.2 tons per acre.

See the following links -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GKK1sCs0ps
http://infochangeindia.org/agenda/agricultural-revival/kudrat-karishma-and-other-living-seeds.html 

2. Dr. Debal Deb

Dr.Debal Deb is an ecologist who has been conserving traditional rice varieties of eastern India single handedly for the past 15 years on his farm BASUDHA in the Bankura district of West Bengal.

He is preserving around 700 heirloom varieties and has been giving seeds free to farmers. According to him, there are some varieties which grows as tall as 18ft and one variety which needs just one rain. Also there are many varieties which can outperform the HYVs.

Please see the links..

www.cintdis.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7WiKL953sY

3. Natbar Sarangi

Natbar Sarangi is a retired teacher who preserves 310 rice accessions in his two hectare farm, located in Narisco village in Khurda district of Orissa. He claims that 50 of the varieties that he cultivates give an yield of 15 to 23 quintals per acre. 

http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.in/2009/04/indigenous-rice-gene-bank.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsRLG9HGte0

4. Ghani Khan

Ghani Khan is from Karnataka and saves 146 traditional varieties and also many mango varieties. The 20 acres of land had been gifted to his forefathers by Tipu Sultan, as they had served in his army, which he had then inherited.

http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2011/10/13/reviving-the-lost-legacy/
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article928993.ece

5. Boregowda

Boregowda is from Mandya district of Karnataka. Boregowda cultivates 70 different traditional varieties.
The traditional varieties Coimbatore Sanna and Doddibatha gives him 2.7 - 3 tonnes per acre. Coimbatore Sanna is drought tollerant and fine quality rice. This yield is quite remarkable..

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/saving-rice
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/05/stories/2010040560510400.htm

6. Srinivasa moorthy

Srinivasa moorthy is from Karntaka and saves 300 traditional rice varieties

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2743518.ece

7. Cheruvayal Raman

Cheruvayal Raman is a tribal farmer from Wayanad,Kerala who preserves many seed varieties. Here is a video about him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UNEmoes1JE

8. Jai Prakash

Jai Prakash Singh from Varanasi, Uttarpradesh preserves 460 types of paddy,120 types of wheat, 40 kinds of arhar dal and three types of mustard.

Here are some links about him.

http://itsorganic.in/organic/preserving-native-seeds-india/
https://in.news.yahoo.com/why-jp-singh-is-every-indian-farmer-s-best-friend-063823627.html
http://www.nif.org.in/awards/awardprofile-details.php?profile_id=18&page=2&award_function_id=-1&st_id=24
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Farmers-need-primacy-in-breeding-seeds/articleshow/7690169.cms