Vrihi will be Closed after Giving Away 1300 Accessions to 26 Custodians
Vrihi’s Seed Bank, Asia’s largest local ex situ rice gene bank for farmers, will be closed down at Odisha after 27 years of service to the nation’s farmers.
Between 14th and 18th April, all of Vrihi’s pure line accessions of indigenous rice varieties will be given away to 26 trained farmer-custodians who received thorough training in methods of genetic purity maintenance. Only a handful of critically endangered landraces will be cultivated on Basudha’s conservation farm.