Rice Diversity Block

We started a Rice Diversity Block at AEC in 2010 which began with 4 indigenous paddy varieties and now conserve around 300+ traditional varieties out of which 180 are from Kerala.

This is the largest live collection of paddy varieties in the state. Every year we organise a field week of rice and this provides farmers, students, politicians, officials, academicians and the general public an opportunity to see and learn about the rice diversity and its value and they chose varieties of their preference.

Now there are 13 RDBs mostly in north Kerala maintained by farmers who came and collected seeds from AEC and got inspired by the idea.Maintenance of rice diversity block demands a lot of time bound and technical work. In a rice diversity block ensuring purity and quality of the varieties is very important.