AN College students work in the field in Patna. Picture by Jai Prakash

Four students of AN College have taken it upon themselves to grow some near-extinct varieties of paddy as part of their academic project.

Ghata Ambedkar, Vikas Kumar, Diwakar Kumar and Neha Bharti are BSc (Part III) students of water and environment management department of AN College and are cultivating mirchaiya, taichun and adhgariya — some rare varieties of paddy grown in pockets of Bihar and neighbouring Jharkhand.

While mirchaiya is grown by a very few farmers at Chanpatia village in West Champaran district, taichun and adhgariya are cultivated in Jharkhand.

The four students had to complete a 100-mark assignment as part of their final-year project and they had three options to choose from — industries, non-government organisations (NGOs) or laboratory venture. They chose to work with an NGO. The department assigned them to work with Tarumitra, an NGO working in the field of environment protection.

“The four of them would first have to grow paddy with help from Tarumitra’s representatives. The students will then have to submit a project report. Once the project report is done, they would have to give a PowerPoint presentation of the project. It will be evaluated by internal examiners (college teachers) as well as visiting teachers,” said A.K. Ghosh, the head of the water and environment department.

He added: “As a part of their project, these students are doing organic farming on a one-acre plot of Tarumitra in Digha. The most interesting aspect about their assignment is that they are growing near-extinct varieties of paddy, instead of the easily available hybrid ones. ” Ghosh said the students of the department were doing a commendable job by growing such near extinct-varieties of paddy.

The four students, who have been toiling in the fields, are on cloud nine to see the fruits of their labour. “We started our work on June 1. The paddy has grown a bit by now. We are happy to see fresh leaves. It’s a great feeling,” said Ambedkar. She added: “The produce will mature by November.”

Ambedkar said the traditional varieties of rice were better than the hybrid quality. “One can easily smell mirchaiya rice even from a distance of 1m,” she said.

On the quality of taichun and adhgariya, Vikas said: “It is believed that people who consume these two varieties develop good immunity.”

On the source of the seeds that they used for their project, Neha said: “Tarumitra provided us with these near-extinct varieties. We are grateful to it.”

Father Robert, the founder of Tarumitra, said: “We had organised a summer camp a few months ago. Students of KR Vidyalaya, Bettiah, had then given me the seeds of the near-extinct mirchaiya paddy.”