States with critically low groundwater reserves were responsible for 41%, or about 38.6 million tonnes of India’s domestic cereal trade. This worked out to nearly 39% of India’s total groundwater being used up in producing and trading cereal among States.

Moreover, a further 21% (19.6 Mt) of domestically produced cereals were exported from six States with ‘semicritical’ to ‘critical’ groundwater status equivalent to 32% of groundwater, according to an analysis by scientists spanning multiple institutions in India and abroad. The study appears in the peer-reviewed Environmental Research Letters.

Cereals are the source of about half the energy that an average Indian gets from her diet. Within them, rice and wheat dominate cereal production and it’s also known that they are intensely water-consumptive crops. For this study, the researchers relied on mathematical modelling and used data-sets from 2011-12 the most updated they say that had information on interstate trade of cereals, domestic cereal production, cost of transportation by rail and road between states. From this the ‘water footprint’ of producing and transporting cereals were estimated.

Previous studies of embedded-water flow in agricultural production have usually focussed on international movements, for instance the amount of water that was lost when a country imported a food crop from another, whereas this focussed on domestic movements and incorporates the role of the public distribution system as well as international outflows, the authors note.

As per the report, Trade patterns varied between PDS (Public Distribution System) and non-PDS cereals. The majority (58%; 58.0 Mt) of interstate cereal trade occurred through the PDS. The total volume of embedded water traded through PDS rice and wheat amounted to 54.3 cubic km of green water and 36.7 km3 of blue water.

As the main PDS contributors, the States exporting the most water through the PDS were Punjab (20.9 km3), Andhra Pradesh (12.6 km3) and Madhya Pradesh (9.9 km3). In addition, 35.8 Mt of non-PDS cereals were traded between States, corresponding to 45.1 km3 of green water and 17.3 km3 of blue water.

‘Green’ and ‘blue water’ refer to the volume of precipitation water that is consumed during crop production, either from evapotranspiration, transpiration, or incorporated into the final crop product. The blue water is that withdrawn from ground- and surface-water sources and consumed during crop production, or incorporated into the final crop product.

“Our findings reiterate the substantial potential for balancing water resources through the trade of crops in India, either in addition to or in place of large-scale infrastructure projects,” say the authors. The institutions involved in the study were the Kalinga Institute of Technology, Bhubaneshwar; Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru; London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine, University College London and Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany.

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India being the land of agriculture grows various types of crops. 65% of the land is agricultural land. Kala Namak Rice is one of the by-products for the same. The traditional Buddhist variety of rice is purely an Indian variety. It is organically farmed and outshines basmati rice in all aspects including its length.

Kala Namak Rice is one of the finest quality scented rice in India. It has been cultivated in India since 600 BC. It’s very popular in the Himalayan Tarai of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. It is also known as the scented black pearl of Uttar Pradesh. A Chinese monk wrote “When Gautam Budhha visited Kapilvastu for the first time after attaining enlightenment; he gifted Kala Namak to the local people as “Prasad”. He asked them to sow it in marshy land, it is due to this reason this rice is also called as “Buddha’s Gift”. This rice was also found in the kitchen store of a house in UP in one of the excavation.
With the flow of time, the production of this rice has declined an is nearly to be extinct. The world-famous rice for its aroma and taste was given a cold-shoulder because of its low yield and non-profitability.

The efforts of Ram Chet Chaudhary, a retired agricultural scientist and the founder of the Participatory Rural Development Foundation (PRDF) is the reason the crop started seeing a revival. PRDF had researched in 2013 that showed that the production of Kala Namak Rice fell from 50,000 hectares to 2,000 hectares of land. After all the efforts the production in 2018 went up to 35,000 hectares in 14 districts including Gorakhpur, Basti, Maharajganj, Deoria, Siddharth Nagar and others. High yielding varieties of Kala Namak Rice has been produced, not only 4 but 11 districts of Purvanchal have also got GI (Geographical Indication) tag.

Districts like Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabir Nagar, Barabanki, Gonda, Bahraich, Balrampur, Kushinagar, Basti and Deoria can both produce and sell Kala Namak rice. People from other districts can grow to eat but cannot do business in the name of black salt.

Chaudhary believes that the cultivation of Kala Namak Rice has contributed 3 times more income to farmers compared to other paddy varieties like Samba Massorie, Doongara, Koshihikari and hence more farmers are showing interest in it.
The farmers had pleaded to Chaudhary to revive this dying crop to trace its history to Buddha. “I collected over 250 samples from farmers to research the crop. After seven years of extensive research, I succeeded in developing Kala Namak variety KN3, which was released by the UP Government and notified by the government of India in 2010. It was rich in aroma and tasted like the original Kala Namak Rice but farmers complained that it had a low yield and that the outer covering with a pointed tip (awn) troubled them while separating rice from husk. Then I came up with an improvement, ‘Bauna Kala Namak 102’, which was without an awn and high-yielding. It was released and notified by the government of India in 2016. Now, we have come up with the latest variety called ‘Kala Namak Kiran’, which will soon be notified by the government. Now I wish to boost the marketing of Kala Namak so that farmers are encouraged to grow it and can sell it right from their doorstep.”

Chaudhary had started the research to mainly commercialise this ancient paddy. “We want to take the Kala Namak Rice to national and international markets again,” PK Srivastava of WetLand Glory Pvt Limited, who signed the agreement with farmers, said. “To ensure a fair price to farmers for their produce, we have entered into an agreement with 100% buy-back terms. To take this unique product of UP abroad, we will also start exporting it soon, besides promoting it through stalls at the coming Lucknow Mahotsav and even at Kumbh 2019. By the end of December, we will be able to market it,” he added.
Assistant Development officer Arvind Kumar Yadav said, “Among the three varieties developed by Dr Chaudhary, Bauna Kala Namak 102 has become very popular. It’s very similar to the original crop with a small stem and ripens in a comparatively shorter period of time. Also, compared to the original Kala Namak Rice, it gives a good income to farmers. In one hectare, 50 to 55 quintals of Kala Namak Rice can be grown against 20 to 25 quintals of original Kala Namak rice per hectare.”

However, at a time when the minimum support price (MSP) of ‘A’ grade paddy (Paddy) in the country was running at Rs 1835 per quintal, farmers got Rs 5500 for a quintal of the black salt rice. The fragrance of this rice has now reached to Buddhist countries like Bhutan, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. The Deputy Director of Agriculture, Siddharth Nagar, Lal Bahadur Yadav, told News18 Hindi that this rice is currently being sold at a rate of Rs 12,000 per quintal. It grows only in rainwater. Due to the introduction of new varieties of black salt rice, this time the area has increased to double or about 10 thousand hectare as compared to last year.

Although, if now the hybrid of the Kala Namak Rice will be sold it wouldn’t have the essence, fragrance, taste or significance of the organic Kala Namak rice that was given by Lord Buddha. The organic rice also loses its fragrance and colour if chemical fertilizers are used hence the government must provide the farmers with the right amount of organic fertilizers to keep the Kala Namak rice alive. To preserve this heritage it is essential to provide the farmers with what they need to grow this crop right.

The attempt of exporting this ancient paddy around the global could act as a great means of income to the farmers and also help in letting the world know about this unique grain. It would also mean to inform the world about Gautam Budhha’s great gift but only if it, in fact, is organic.

Image Credits:- Loksatta

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What is e-nam yojna?  This was an initiative by Prime minister of India launched on 14th April 2016 National agricultural market is a national online trading portal, it’s operation is coupled with Centre and State government. National agricultural market’s scheme is to unleash the true value of the production of farmers. Through this system the government brings the markets online. The government plans to return fair value of both crop and work to the farmers.

The process of this plan to work – As the farmer enters the market (Mandi) his entrance will be marked and registered as a user. During the registration the computers will record the arrival of his car and then will check the grain and the weight of the crop.The farmer’s crop will be checked scientifically and on all standards possible and will be fixed price per crop quality. Then will be put on computer purchase for the buyers with all the details of grain, online. Traders after bidding grains provide weighing of grain can be take the purchased crops and vegetables to market. Purchase of grain will be billed online, after the bill check the purchase of merchant’s grain will be taken out of the market.

Reality

Sound like a great plan. But here is certain facts about the e-nam policy there are many Mandi’s which were supposed to run on the portal and they also have every essential of the e-nam market plan still its a failure. The examples here are of couple of Mandi’s of Madhya Pradesh. Which were ought to be run on the. e-nam model but they are just on papers. After speaking to farmers at Bhopal’s karond Mandi, Raisen Mandi, Shore Mandi it can be seen all the essentials are rotting in it’s place. There is immense amount of money budgeted for the e-nam policy for each Mandi and the farmers well. The reasons behind the failure of pilot projects are the dis- interest on farmers and unfriendly interface of the farmers with the e-nam portal. It was seen farmers of the named Mandi barely are e-literate. They do not have their unique id passes with the also they don’t believe in it’s access and benefits.

All the evidence of the given media photo and video showing the success of e-nam are of specific and planted on the basis of future of e-nam. Whereas, the reality stands untouched with the benefits of e-nam.

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