November 6th Thursday
Today was filled with sorrow and joy.
We left our hotel in Kolkata in West Bengal at 5 am so that we could catch an early plane to Bhubaneswar in the state of Orissa. The bus took us one last time through the town of vendors, beggars and people sleeping on the streets. On one corner of the pavement on a singly dirty blanket slept 2 young women with their children of 5 months and 5 years, snuggled into their arms. Next to them was the form of a man covered head-to-toe by his blanket. The only thing I could see were his bare feet and his crutch.
From the airport, we drove directly to the Central Rice Research Institute in Cuttack. After lunch of paneer (Indian cheese) with curry, chapati, rice, spicy mango chutney, and fish we piled once again into the vehicles and drove to visit farmers in the village of Nuagawn, east of Cuttack.
Soon we arrive in the village of Nuagawn. We see vast fields of rice bordered by palm, mango and banana trees. A young girl in a bright yellow sari peddles here bicycle along the levees. A shirtless older man herds 5 cows in the distance. Music is playing in the village nearby.
Nuagawn is bordered by two large rivers, which often overflow during the wet season (June-November), making the rice fields vulnerable to flash flooding. If the flood comes early in the season, the farmers can replant. If the flood comes late, the entire crop can be lost. For this reason, 15 farmers here were willing to experiment with the new Sub1 varieties provided by CRRI. These farmers are part of a larger participatory varietal selection trial (55 farmers in 9 villages) that has been carried out over the last 3 years.
About 1/3 or the rice grown in the state of Orissa is Swarna. Another favorite here is the locally improved variety Gayatry. Both these varieties are intolerant of flooding. Thus even incremental increases in submergence tolerance would greatly benefit farmers here.
As we descend from our vehicles we see that many of these famers are here to greet us. The people here speak Oriya, a dialect closely related to Bengali, reflecting the fact that Orissa, West Bengal and Bangaldesh were part of the same state before colonial times.
We walk towards a thick stand of Swarna Sub1 rice to speak with Basanta Kumar Raut, the first farmer to participate in the trials in 2006. Barefooted and dressed in a white shirt, he looked to be about 50, with teeth darkened by chewing on beetlenet a slightly intoxicating fruit, the Orissan’s chewing tobacco. CRRI scientist SSC Patnaik translates into English for us. With a large grin and clear pride Raut tells us that this year his farm was flooded for 12 days. His entire crop of Gayatry, which is tolerant of stagnant flooding but not complete submergence, died. Some of the Swarna plants survived but were so damaged they did not produce grain. His entire field of Swarna-sub1 survived.
After meeting with a few more farmers and looking at some more varieties, my mother and I decide to walk towards the village rather than get in the bus again. The sun is going down and there is a pleasant breeze. There is music in the village and we can see people milling about in the distance near some banana trees. Farmer Raut walks with us. We pass two young girls dressed in blue. Their solemn faces break into a grin when I put my hands together in the traditional Indian greeting and say “Namaste”, a common spoken greeting or salutation in the Indian subcontinent. Shy no more, they come to us and touch our feet, a sign of respect for elders.
Suddenly we arrive in the village. For the village meeting, a large tent has been set up on poles, with cloth that is printed with yellow Bengali tigers. There are about 30 chairs. The first row is filled with about 10 village women dressed in their finest saris, some have children sitting in their laps. Raut motions to the chairs in front that have been set up on the stage.
Once the rest of the group joins us, the meeting gets started. The meeting is led by CRRI scientist SSC Patnaik. He explains to the assembled villagers that that this was their chance to ask us questions about the new variety and an opportunity for us to learn from them how the varieties performed in their hands.
One farmer tells us that the Swarna-Sub1 variety produced twice as much rice this year compared to his previous variety. He asks us if their might be problems that will come later. Will Swarna-Sub1 be more susceptible to insects? Dave Mcakill explains that because Swarna and Swarna-Sub1 differ by only a few genes, that it is unlikely that such a problem will occur. After 5 years of on-station and farm trials, there have not been new pest problems.
Another farmer asks if the flowering time will differ. Dave answers that so far, Swarna and Swarna-Sub1 flower at the same time.
A young woman in the front row, dressed in a pink sari, stands up and tells us that the new variety has provided more food for her family and even extra rice so that they can sell some on the market. She is glad to have some money for her family she says.
“When will we put Sub1 into Gayatry?” the next farmer asked. A breeder at CRRI tells him that the Sub1 Gaytry is now being developed.
Several more farmers stand to tell us how well the Sub1 variety is doing. “It is magic”, one says. Several woman tell us how pleased they are that we came to visit and that we have worked for them from so far away.
After about 30 minutes, the villagers pass us small boxes filled with homemade somosas (spiced potatoes wrapped in pastry) and sugar sweetened panner (Indian cottage cheese). We give them 2 soccer balls and pumps.
As the meeting breaks up, one woman comes to me, her hands sliding comfortably into mine. Patanaik translates.
“Thank you for coming to our village. Thank you for working for us. Thank you for the rice. We have more food and more money for our families.”
And to her I say, “Thank you for welcoming us, thank you for testing the rice, thank you for growing it and feeding your families. We are honored to be useful. It is a joy to be here.”
This is the 5th in a series of posts describing our trip to Bangladesh and India. For part 4, see this post.
