‘Culture performs a critical purpose in cultivation’: Swati Nayak
On September 21, the Environment Food items Prize Foundation (WFPF) named Dr Swati Nayak as the recipient of the 2023 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Industry Study and Software. The WFPF provides this prestigious award instituted in honour of the Nobel-successful American agronomist Norman Borlaug (1914-2009) each and every October for “exceptional, science-dependent achievement in international agriculture and food items manufacturing by an person beneath the age of 40”.
Nayak at the moment works as the South Asia Direct for Seed System and Product Administration at the Worldwide Rice Investigation Institute (IRRI), New Delhi. The WFPF lauded her for her pioneering work with farmers from compact landholdings in desire-pushed rice seed systems. Her acceptance amongst farmers is these that they tackle her fondly as bihana didi (seed sister).
Born and brought up in Odisha’s Puri, Nayak had no immediate make contact with with farming in her more youthful times. But she had an inclination for plant science, which encouraged her to get a bachelor’s diploma in agriculture from Andhra Pradesh’s Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural College. It was whilst she was performing her master’s in rural management at Gujarat’s Institute of Rural Management, Anand, that she started off performing with farming communities. This bought her interested in application-based research, leading to her PhD in Agriculture Extension Management and Engineering Transfer from Amity University, Noida.
Also Study | Bengal’s potato farmers caught in a world-wide-web of loans, losses, and political neglect
Her function stems from the observation that although quite a few significant-yielding versions of seeds are remaining created not all farmers can entry them, resulting in the stakeholders being deprived of the added benefits of innovation. Nayak is making an attempt to bridge this gap between scientific know-how and its practical software by working carefully with farmers. Her operate addresses the entire gamut, from testing and application to adoption of weather-resilient rice versions and making sure equitable obtain.
Her approach of spreading the use of the drought-resilient rice selection Shahabhagi dhan (paddy) in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj eight many years back stays a milestone. The wide variety reworked cultivation in rainfed places and grew to become an essential element of farmers’ foodstuff behavior and agricultural methods.
Nayak will formally obtain the award at a ceremony to be held from October 24 to 26 in Des Moines, Iowa, US, as portion of the 2023 Norman E. Borlaug Global Dialogue, which will carry collectively leaders, authorities, educators, and students from far more than 65 international locations to discuss difficulties similar to global food items protection and nutrition. Edited excerpts from an on line interview with Nayak, who is primarily based in Delhi:
Can you explain to us some thing about the rice seed types that have been formulated? How will they benefit farmers?
I’m not a breeder, so I have not produced any assortment. But I have surveyed what several eminent breeders have designed in India or in neighbouring nations around the world. I have thoroughly mapped and gathered nominations from them about the most recent or forthcoming types in their breeding programmes.
I have also carried out in depth evaluation of farmers’ subject disorders, having into consideration the agronomic or best management techniques. In authentic-lifetime predicaments, a farmer may possibly not have the means to cultivate the types currently being created. So, we consider how the seed kinds execute beneath obtainable ailments. Then the varieties are popularised and scaled by means of a partnership method. I have been involved in the nomination and scaling of a whole lot of local climate-resilient rice kinds, which are tolerant to circumstances like floods, droughts, or both. They have higher dietary price, and minimized local climate vulnerability, which are essential components for a farmer.
We have also brought in a large amount of new, drought-tolerant kinds, which we are making an attempt to create and popularise by producing recognition amid farmers and by partnering with seed corporations, non-public entities, and community enterprises. We generally play a catalysing position by giving linkage assistance and information to promote these types.
You have crafted the Seeds without Borders coverage. How does it enable velocity up the distribution of contemporary rice types all through South and South-East Asia?
This is a one particular-of-a-kind coverage innovation. And it developed from the concept that when a farmer from a single nation is developing an remarkable range, an additional farmer from a neighbouring country, doing the job under the identical ecological conditions, is deprived of the gains of that range because it is not produced or created in their country. Considering that building a new range requires various years, with all the attendant processes—testing and analysis, seed generation, advertising, etc.—we experimented with to make superior use of the time and work by producing the new versions offered to farmers of additional than one particular country. With this sort of a coverage in put, we can go a wide range from a person state to yet another and force it straight into the meals chain. If the agroecological ailments, markets, or the tastes of the farmers of distinctive countries are practically identical, then why hold out for decades? Following we introduced in the innovation, quite a few nations signed the agreement.
The upcoming problem was how to make the programs, processes, and ownership in the importing countries. Our aim was to generate a linkage for seed multiplication and just take it to the farmers’ doorstep. It labored splendidly, with 1000’s of farmers demonstrating the willingness to undertake the varieties, hence contributing to the regional marketplaces and their possess varietal basket. Far more of this sort of improvements really should be fostered. And the signatory international locations should increase cooperation between one particular a different so that the profit can be reaped by farmers.
“Landraces (indigenous kinds) are a aspect of our tradition and culture. They want to be conserved. But at the same time, we ought to assure that they get a robust source and benefit chain.”
Highlights
-
Dr Swati Nayak is the receiver of the 2023 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Discipline Analysis and Software supplied by the Planet Foods Prize Foundation
-
The World Meals Prize Basis lauded Nayak her for her revolutionary get the job done with farmers from modest landholdings in need-driven rice seed units
-
Her do the job stems from the observation that though lots of substantial-yielding kinds of seeds are remaining formulated not all farmers can accessibility them.
-
Nayak is striving to bridge the hole between innovation and its sensible software in the area of agriculture by working closely with farmers
You have worked right with farmers. How has that assisted you in your investigation?
When we acquire or present a new assortment, we are inclined to promote it as a higher-yielding selection which is far better than more mature versions. But I have observed that the perceptions and choices of farmers are very varied, and their adoption behaviour is dependent on these parameters, rather than simply on yield. There are several other factors—the grain high-quality or cooking excellent of that variety, how adaptable it is to local style buds, etcetera. For instance, in Odisha, the option of paddy range depends on which one will make for far better puffed rice, or chudda. These preferences overpower the generate. So, culture plays a essential function in cultivation—this is something we have learnt though working with farmers.
How have you sought to make agricultural functions extra gender inclusive?
We not long ago received the unhappy information of Dr M.S. Swaminathan’s demise. In my early occupation, I experienced an possibility to get the job done with him and his crew. He preferred to craft a committed programme for gals farmers, Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana. The good news is, I turned the experience of that programme due to the fact I helped shape it alongside with my teammates. That studying process was so enriching that it designed me determined to keep the gender angle usually in head, as a woman, as a scientist, and as any person operating in the rural local community empowerment room.
Women make up 50 per cent of the workforce in agriculture, but just simply because they are not the landowners, they skip out on a large amount of chances, be it subsidy, education, input distribution, or the information dissemination approach. The solution may well not consist merely in giving them with technologies or coaching they require to be enterprised. Our do the job focusses on building organization alternatives for communities and regional people today. For occasion, there is a enormous likely for expanding the high quality of seed accessibility domestically. Considering that formal establishments are unable to access out to all farmers in that direction, regional business people and local enterprises are going to remain the mainstay listed here.
So, why not harness the prospective of women—women who are organised, could be organised, who can get financial empowerment, not just enter obtain, in the procedure? This is what we are making an attempt to do.
Also Examine | M.S. Swaminathan (1925-2023): Father of ‘Green Revolution’ passes away
Local weather transform is hitting the poorest the most. Establishing weather-resilient types of crops can be a single of the approaches of shielding their interests. Your views on this.
Local weather improve is a reality, and the ensuing detrimental effects is a actuality. I do not think we can cease substantially of its implications any time quickly. The only matter we can do is make our community resilient so that they can combat these stresses much better. If we can provide farmers with local weather-resilient seeds at a mass scale, they will get protection from floods, drought-linked damages, and so on.
I would also like to communicate about new-generation kinds with minimal enter responses, types that are ideal for immediate-seeded rice devices [a sowing system where rice seeds are sown directly into the field, as opposed to the traditional method of growing seedlings in a nursery, then transplanting them into flooded fields]. These types call for considerably less fertilizer, fewer h2o, or any type of enter. That also minimize carbon footprint. So, yes, the varietal and seed method intervention is heading to be central to combatting the local climate vulnerability of the farming community.
Odisha has designed major endeavours to protect indigenous types of rice. For illustration, a grassroots movement in Koraput, with above 1,400 farmer-conservators, is engaged in the conservation of above a thousand heirloom rice types, many of them endangered. How crucial are these initiatives in a environment dealing with the local climate crisis? Ought to they not be speeded up all over India?
Landraces (indigenous types) are a section of our tradition and tradition. They have amazing attributes, be it in conditions of dietary price, local weather resilience, aroma, or grain quality. They need to have to be conserved. But at the exact same time, we need to ensure that some of these putting versions, which have fantastic industry potential, get a solid supply and price chain. That way, farmers who are growing these crops can also advantage.
It is highly recommended to grow these varieties locally in get to preserve their original features. In this they are unlike high-yielding varieties, which are far more commercially practical given that they can be developed in numerous areas. So, what are the incentives of the producers who are growing these kinds? Exactly where is the client foundation? How can we place these varieties? These are essential factors to consider in coming several years simply because landraces will usually have a yield disadvantage as as opposed to contemporary kinds.
When the produce potential is minimal, the only incentive for the producers is the value, which can be to their gain if they take care of to market place the wide variety as a speciality rice. We are not able to discuss about increasing landraces with out providing the sector for growers or producers. That is something we have to have to perform on. When we consider to improve the space less than these landraces, we also require high-quality seeds. The landrace seed system is continue to underdeveloped in India. Seed preservation and seed chain progress for landraces should go hand in hand. And landraces have to have to co-exist with other versions to defend the interests of farmers.
Aishwarya Mohanty is an unbiased journalist masking gender, social justice, and natural environment challenges.
A lot more tales from this issue
On September 21, the Environment Food items Prize Foundation (WFPF) named Dr Swati Nayak as the recipient of the 2023 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Industry Study and Software. The WFPF provides this prestigious award instituted in honour of the Nobel-successful American agronomist Norman Borlaug (1914-2009) each and every October for “exceptional, science-dependent achievement in international agriculture and food items manufacturing by an person beneath the age of 40”.
Nayak at the moment works as the South Asia Direct for Seed System and Product Administration at the Worldwide Rice Investigation Institute (IRRI), New Delhi. The WFPF lauded her for her pioneering work with farmers from compact landholdings in desire-pushed rice seed systems. Her acceptance amongst farmers is these that they tackle her fondly as bihana didi (seed sister).
Born and brought up in Odisha’s Puri, Nayak had no immediate make contact with with farming in her more youthful times. But she had an inclination for plant science, which encouraged her to get a bachelor’s diploma in agriculture from Andhra Pradesh’s Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural College. It was whilst she was performing her master’s in rural management at Gujarat’s Institute of Rural Management, Anand, that she started off performing with farming communities. This bought her interested in application-based research, leading to her PhD in Agriculture Extension Management and Engineering Transfer from Amity University, Noida.
Also Study | Bengal’s potato farmers caught in a world-wide-web of loans, losses, and political neglect
Her function stems from the observation that although quite a few significant-yielding versions of seeds are remaining created not all farmers can entry them, resulting in the stakeholders being deprived of the added benefits of innovation. Nayak is making an attempt to bridge this gap between scientific know-how and its practical software by working carefully with farmers. Her operate addresses the entire gamut, from testing and application to adoption of weather-resilient rice versions and making sure equitable obtain.
Her approach of spreading the use of the drought-resilient rice selection Shahabhagi dhan (paddy) in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj eight many years back stays a milestone. The wide variety reworked cultivation in rainfed places and grew to become an essential element of farmers’ foodstuff behavior and agricultural methods.
Nayak will formally obtain the award at a ceremony to be held from October 24 to 26 in Des Moines, Iowa, US, as portion of the 2023 Norman E. Borlaug Global Dialogue, which will carry collectively leaders, authorities, educators, and students from far more than 65 international locations to discuss difficulties similar to global food items protection and nutrition. Edited excerpts from an on line interview with Nayak, who is primarily based in Delhi:
Can you explain to us some thing about the rice seed types that have been formulated? How will they benefit farmers?
I’m not a breeder, so I have not produced any assortment. But I have surveyed what several eminent breeders have designed in India or in neighbouring nations around the world. I have thoroughly mapped and gathered nominations from them about the most recent or forthcoming types in their breeding programmes.
I have also carried out in depth evaluation of farmers’ subject disorders, having into consideration the agronomic or best management techniques. In authentic-lifetime predicaments, a farmer may possibly not have the means to cultivate the types currently being created. So, we consider how the seed kinds execute beneath obtainable ailments. Then the varieties are popularised and scaled by means of a partnership method. I have been involved in the nomination and scaling of a whole lot of local climate-resilient rice kinds, which are tolerant to circumstances like floods, droughts, or both. They have higher dietary price, and minimized local climate vulnerability, which are essential components for a farmer.
We have also brought in a large amount of new, drought-tolerant kinds, which we are making an attempt to create and popularise by producing recognition amid farmers and by partnering with seed corporations, non-public entities, and community enterprises. We generally play a catalysing position by giving linkage assistance and information to promote these types.
You have crafted the Seeds without Borders coverage. How does it enable velocity up the distribution of contemporary rice types all through South and South-East Asia?
This is a one particular-of-a-kind coverage innovation. And it developed from the concept that when a farmer from a single nation is developing an remarkable range, an additional farmer from a neighbouring country, doing the job under the identical ecological conditions, is deprived of the gains of that range because it is not produced or created in their country. Considering that building a new range requires various years, with all the attendant processes—testing and analysis, seed generation, advertising, etc.—we experimented with to make superior use of the time and work by producing the new versions offered to farmers of additional than one particular country. With this sort of a coverage in put, we can go a wide range from a person state to yet another and force it straight into the meals chain. If the agroecological ailments, markets, or the tastes of the farmers of distinctive countries are practically identical, then why hold out for decades? Following we introduced in the innovation, quite a few nations signed the agreement.
The upcoming problem was how to make the programs, processes, and ownership in the importing countries. Our aim was to generate a linkage for seed multiplication and just take it to the farmers’ doorstep. It labored splendidly, with 1000’s of farmers demonstrating the willingness to undertake the varieties, hence contributing to the regional marketplaces and their possess varietal basket. Far more of this sort of improvements really should be fostered. And the signatory international locations should increase cooperation between one particular a different so that the profit can be reaped by farmers.
“Landraces (indigenous kinds) are a aspect of our tradition and culture. They want to be conserved. But at the same time, we ought to assure that they get a robust source and benefit chain.”
Highlights
- Dr Swati Nayak is the receiver of the 2023 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Discipline Analysis and Software supplied by the Planet Foods Prize Foundation
- The World Meals Prize Basis lauded Nayak her for her revolutionary get the job done with farmers from modest landholdings in need-driven rice seed units
- Her do the job stems from the observation that though lots of substantial-yielding kinds of seeds are remaining formulated not all farmers can accessibility them.
- Nayak is striving to bridge the hole between innovation and its sensible software in the area of agriculture by working closely with farmers
You have worked right with farmers. How has that assisted you in your investigation?
When we acquire or present a new assortment, we are inclined to promote it as a higher-yielding selection which is far better than more mature versions. But I have observed that the perceptions and choices of farmers are very varied, and their adoption behaviour is dependent on these parameters, rather than simply on yield. There are several other factors—the grain high-quality or cooking excellent of that variety, how adaptable it is to local style buds, etcetera. For instance, in Odisha, the option of paddy range depends on which one will make for far better puffed rice, or chudda. These preferences overpower the generate. So, culture plays a essential function in cultivation—this is something we have learnt though working with farmers.
How have you sought to make agricultural functions extra gender inclusive?
We not long ago received the unhappy information of Dr M.S. Swaminathan’s demise. In my early occupation, I experienced an possibility to get the job done with him and his crew. He preferred to craft a committed programme for gals farmers, Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana. The good news is, I turned the experience of that programme due to the fact I helped shape it alongside with my teammates. That studying process was so enriching that it designed me determined to keep the gender angle usually in head, as a woman, as a scientist, and as any person operating in the rural local community empowerment room.
Women make up 50 per cent of the workforce in agriculture, but just simply because they are not the landowners, they skip out on a large amount of chances, be it subsidy, education, input distribution, or the information dissemination approach. The solution may well not consist merely in giving them with technologies or coaching they require to be enterprised. Our do the job focusses on building organization alternatives for communities and regional people today. For occasion, there is a enormous likely for expanding the high quality of seed accessibility domestically. Considering that formal establishments are unable to access out to all farmers in that direction, regional business people and local enterprises are going to remain the mainstay listed here.
So, why not harness the prospective of women—women who are organised, could be organised, who can get financial empowerment, not just enter obtain, in the procedure? This is what we are making an attempt to do.
Also Examine | M.S. Swaminathan (1925-2023): Father of ‘Green Revolution’ passes away
Local weather transform is hitting the poorest the most. Establishing weather-resilient types of crops can be a single of the approaches of shielding their interests. Your views on this.
Local weather improve is a reality, and the ensuing detrimental effects is a actuality. I do not think we can cease substantially of its implications any time quickly. The only matter we can do is make our community resilient so that they can combat these stresses much better. If we can provide farmers with local weather-resilient seeds at a mass scale, they will get protection from floods, drought-linked damages, and so on.
I would also like to communicate about new-generation kinds with minimal enter responses, types that are ideal for immediate-seeded rice devices [a sowing system where rice seeds are sown directly into the field, as opposed to the traditional method of growing seedlings in a nursery, then transplanting them into flooded fields]. These types call for considerably less fertilizer, fewer h2o, or any type of enter. That also minimize carbon footprint. So, yes, the varietal and seed method intervention is heading to be central to combatting the local climate vulnerability of the farming community.
Odisha has designed major endeavours to protect indigenous types of rice. For illustration, a grassroots movement in Koraput, with above 1,400 farmer-conservators, is engaged in the conservation of above a thousand heirloom rice types, many of them endangered. How crucial are these initiatives in a environment dealing with the local climate crisis? Ought to they not be speeded up all over India?
Landraces (indigenous types) are a section of our tradition and tradition. They have amazing attributes, be it in conditions of dietary price, local weather resilience, aroma, or grain quality. They need to have to be conserved. But at the exact same time, we need to ensure that some of these putting versions, which have fantastic industry potential, get a solid supply and price chain. That way, farmers who are growing these crops can also advantage.
It is highly recommended to grow these varieties locally in get to preserve their original features. In this they are unlike high-yielding varieties, which are far more commercially practical given that they can be developed in numerous areas. So, what are the incentives of the producers who are growing these kinds? Exactly where is the client foundation? How can we place these varieties? These are essential factors to consider in coming several years simply because landraces will usually have a yield disadvantage as as opposed to contemporary kinds.
When the produce potential is minimal, the only incentive for the producers is the value, which can be to their gain if they take care of to market place the wide variety as a speciality rice. We are not able to discuss about increasing landraces with out providing the sector for growers or producers. That is something we have to have to perform on. When we consider to improve the space less than these landraces, we also require high-quality seeds. The landrace seed system is continue to underdeveloped in India. Seed preservation and seed chain progress for landraces should go hand in hand. And landraces have to have to co-exist with other versions to defend the interests of farmers.
Aishwarya Mohanty is an unbiased journalist masking gender, social justice, and natural environment challenges.