Kulgam, Aug 29 (KNO): The Rice Research Station at Khudwani in South Kashmir’s Kulgam District has emerged as a major centre for developing high-yielding, disease-resistant and climate-resilient rice varieties, with its research pushing the region’s productivity potential from around one tonne to nearly 10–12 tonnes per hectare.
Vice-Chancellor of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K), Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganaie, while speaking at a function here, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said, “The research at the station over the past three to four decades has enhanced rice productivity, with some varieties now showing a potential of up to 12 tonnes (120 quintals) per hectare.”
He said, “On one side, our population is increasing, agricultural land is shrinking, and climate change and global warming are creating new challenges. On the other, our food requirements are increasing. Therefore, our focus is on developing varieties that are high-yielding, disease-resistant and climate-resilient.”
Prof Ganaie said the centre also serves as a national blast reference facility, where rice varieties released across the country are evaluated for resistance against blast disease. “Most nationally released varieties and landraces have succumbed to blast, whereas our released varieties have shown resistance,” he said, adding that blast infestation can cause nearly 50 to 100 per cent yield losses.
Ganaie said the university’s scientists have also worked to recover the traditional Mushkbudji rice variety, which was once susceptible to blast disease and had virtually disappeared, by breeding it for blast resistance.
He said Kashmir’s premium red rice, known for its nutritional value and higher iron and zinc content, has been bred for resistance against blast disease, strengthening its potential for nutritional security.
The Vice Chancellor said the station has also developed Kashmir Basmati, a medium-grain aromatic rice variety with a yield potential of around 8–9 tonnes per hectare. He said the university is simultaneously focusing on reducing water and labour requirements through new cultivation technologies, including Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR). “Through direct-seeded rice, we are saving huge amounts of water and labour. This is one of the new technologies introduced by the university,” he said.
Ganaie said rice productivity in Kashmir is already around three times the national level, with the country’s average at nearly 30 quintals per hectare compared to more than 100 quintals in the Valley.
He said the research in the centre is particularly important because rice varieties have to be developed and evaluated for Kashmir’s diverse altitudes, ranging from low to medium- and high-altitude areas. “Varieties suitable for low altitudes do not necessarily mature at high altitudes. Therefore, our research has a very important and multifaceted role,” he said.
Ganaie said the Khudwani facility is comparable in resources and research importance to the International Rice Research Institute’s resource facilities in the Philippines. He said the university has conveyed the centre’s achievements to senior rice-breeding scientists in the Government of India and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). “Our aim is not only to increase rice productivity but also to improve farmers’ profitability, reduce the cost of production and make rice cultivation climate-resilient,” he said.
Ganaie further said the university is transforming the facility into a Postgraduate College of Agriculture for South Kashmir, where Master’s and PhD programmes in agriculture are being introduced from this year. He said academic and laboratory infrastructure, along with separate hostel facilities for boys and girls, is also being developed at the campus. “Our focus is to develop this into a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence for rice research in South Kashmir,” he said—(KNO)