Vrihi Shifted to New Location
In 2011, the Vrihi rice gene bank shifted to a tribal village in Rayagada district of Odisha, for a wider distribution among indigenous farmers in need. For detail, please read here.
Over the past 18 years, Vrihi has distributed hundreds of rice varieties to different farmers and farmer organisations. In West Bengal, many of Vrihi’s donations are now being grown by Paschim Sridharkati Jana Kalyan Sangha of Sunderban, Dr. Anupam Paul of Agriculture Training Centre, Fulia, and 6 individual farmer-conservators.
Farmer conservators who have received heirloom rice varieties from Vrihi include: Sjt. Anil Hegde, Syed Ghani Khan (Karnataka), Sanjay Patil, Maharashtra Gene Bank (Maharashtra), Nandakumar, P K (Kerala), and at least 160 farmers and two organisations in Odisha, who all keep Vrihi’s accessions alive on-farm.
Vrihi’s current accession is 1120 folk rice varieties.