Vrihi (Sanskrit for "rice") is India's largest non-governmental rice seed bank for farmers. Founded in 1997, Vrihi now has over 1000 accessions of 940 rice landraces. Each variety is grown on Vrihi farm in Oridha. Genetic purity of each landrace is maintained by preventing cross-pollination.

1. Vrihi: An Effort to Conserve
Folk Rice Varieties
Dr. Debal Deb
Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies
Barrackpore
www.cintdis.org/Vrihi.html

2. MASSIVE EROSION OF FOLK CROP
GENETIC DIVERSITY
• West Bengal had over 5,550 Rice landraces until
1975.
• Over 5,200 of these varieties were shipped to
IRRI between 1965-75.
• Our intensive search over the past 11 years have
recovered only 640 landraces.
• The extant varieties include:
FLOOD-TOLERANT, DROUGHT-TOLERANT, SALT-
TOLERANT, AROMATIC AND MEDICINAL VARIETIES.

3. In Situ Conservation of
Folk Crop Genetic Diversity
● Vrihi was founded in 1997
● Works on the principle of Local Ex Situ
Seed Bank
● Distributes seeds to Farmers for Free
● Expands Seeds Exchange Network
● Documents Varietal Characteristics of Each
Landrace following INGER Guidelines

4. Accession and In Situ Conservation
● Vrihi has a collection of 920 Distinct
Traditional Varieties – the largest in
eastern India.
● Includes rare and unique germplasm –
like salt-tolerant varieties, flood tolerant
varieties and drought tolerant varieties.
● Each Landrace has been characterised
and documented.

5. AMAZING FARMER INNOVATIONS
Jugal: The Double-Grain Rice

6. AMAZING FARMER INNOVATIONS
Sateen: The Three-Grain Rice

7. On-Farm Research in Agroecology
* Agrobiodiversity Documentation
* Enumeration of Pests and Predators in Different
Afgroecosystems
* Study of Agronomic Consequences of Farm Micro­
habitat Diversity Enhancement
* Study on Food Web Structural Complexity
* Estimation of Eoclogiucal Resilience of
Agroecosystems
* Experiments with Different Cultivation Systems
(Mulching, Cover Crops, Types of Composting, SRI etc.)

9. Rice Farm Food Web

10. Publications from Vrihi's Research
1. 1994. Industrial vs Ecological Agriculture (RFSTE,
New Delhi)
2. 1995. Seeds of Tradition, Seeds of Future: Folk Rice
Varieties of Eastern India (RFSTE, New Delhi)
3. 2009. ”Valuing folk crop varieties for agroecology and
food security” Bioscience Resource 10: 7-12.
4. 2009. ”Biodiversity and complexity of rice farm
ecosystems: An empirical assessment” Open Ecology
Journal 2: 112-129.
5. 2010. ”Two unique rice varieties from West Bengal”
Seed Research 43 (forthcoming)

11. Vrihi's Recognition
1. Circolo Culturale Ambientescienze (Cremona,
Italy) recognized Vrihi as ”Conservator of Global
Significance” (2007)
2. FAO recognized Vrihi's effort as ”One of the best
examples of crop genetic diversity conservation
through community effort” (2008)
3. PVPFRA, endowed Vrihi with the National Plant
Genome Saviour Award (2009)

12. From Negligence to Plagiarism
1. The W.B. State Agriculture Directorate
considered Vrihi's effort to be of no significance.
2. The Director even told in 2000 that effort to
conserve traditional crop varieties was futile,
unscientific, and anti-progress.
3. In 2008 and 2009, the Director reproduced
text and photographs from my copyrighted book,
without acknowledgement and citation, and
puboished them as his own work.

13. Photo of Jugal
Replica (L)
Original (R)

14. Photo of Sateen
Replica (L) Original (R)

15. Photos of Jugal and Sateen (Original)