An experiment to provide protein and zinc content through rice, Odisha’s staple food, to tribal communities appears to be succeeding, as farmers in tribal-dominated Koraput and Nabarangpur district are excited about the yield from paddy varieties.
As part of a project to increase farmers’ income and reduce malnutrition through biofortified crops, the Institute of Life Science (ILS), Bhubaneswar, an institute under the Department of Biotechnology, had promoted cultivation of protein rich rice (CR-Dhan-311 and CR-Dhar-411) in Nabarangpur and Koraput district this kharif season.
The CR-Dhan-311 (named Mokul) and CR-Dhan-411 paddy varieties were developed by the National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack.
