This house supports heritage rice varieties

Of late scientists and nutritionists in the country have been highlighting the benefits of consuming heritage varieties of rice that have been cultivated on our soil for thousands of years. Sheela Balaji, the chairperson and managing trustee of the NGO AIM For Seva, saw firsthand the horrors that are associated with hybrid rice varieties — while working in a village in Tamil Nadu, she happened to see a farmer spraying pesticide on the crops ruthlessly. Despite trying to explain to him the health hazards, the farmer explained that the hybrid kind could not be harvested without the use of chemicals.

This was an eye-opener for her and she decided to grow indigenous varieties in 40 acres of land that belonged to the NGO. Keeping this in mind, AIM For Seva will be hosting a talk next week by consultant dietitian Dr Dharini Krishnan on why including heritage rice in meals has multiple benefits.

“Today, because gluten has become a ‘bad thing’ so to say — unless you have gluten-sensitive enteropathy — people have assumed that rice must be given up, especially for those with diabetes. In heritage varieties such as mapillai samba, poongar, thooyamalli and so on there’s a tailor-made solution,” begins Dr Dharini. “I use a lot of varieties of traditional rice and have studied that the fibre content is high and in it comes rice bran oil, which has unsaturated fatty acids that are good for the heart, apart from iron, calcium and Vitamin B,” she justifies.

Also, if people want to change the main grain they’ve been eating, it takes one or two generations to eliminate it completely, feels the doctor. “This is because rice is not only consumed in puliyodharai or with sambar but also in idli, dosa and upma. Suddenly eliminating an important component of your diet can cause psychosomatic problems — one may intentionally avoid rice but overeat once he/she sees it,” she adds.

Not just on the body, hybrid grains can have adverse effects on the soil too. Dr Dharini elucidates, “Initially, rice was grown only twice a year, in between which farmers would grow other crops to fix micronutrients back in the soil. Nowadays, rice is grown quarterly to tackle malnutrition and starvation in the country. Back in 2007-08, the then director of National Institute of Nutrition Dr Sesikeran Boindala mentioned that the type of rice itself has changed because paddy has to be grown quarterly, causing the fibre content to drastically reduced. Such polished and milled rice could be one of the reasons for a rise of multiple diseases too, not to forget soil degradation.”

This problem can be tackled by people learning to responsibly harvest food crops despite the profession they’re in. “I know an intensive cardiologist who grows 10-12 heritage rice varieties! I have seen firsthand too that growing your own produce, even if it is a dhaniya plant, can encourage the family and children to be proactive and healthy eaters. Naturally grown and harvested produce tastes and smells much better than store-bought goods,” she says.