Satya Ranjan Das at the net house in Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, April 30: He has formally retired from teaching and research service, but he still remains a keen rice researcher at the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) here.

Meet Satya Ranjan Das, who, after retirement from the university in February 2011, is still associated with rice research. At present, he is serving the OUAT as an honorary professor.

Das, who does not take any remuneration for his contribution to the university’s research after retirement, has also requested the OUAT authorities to allow him work on rice improvement for the rest of his life. Still dreaming big and ready to create more rice varieties for all agro-climatic zones of the state, the professor comes to his laboratory and research field everyday.

His contribution to rice research was honoured on April 27 with the prestigious Senadhira Rice Research Award, 2012, by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The Senadhira Rice Research Award, 2012, was constituted by the IRRI in memory of leading Sri Lankan scientist Dharmawansa Senadhira. The scientist, fondly called Sena by his colleagues, died in an accident in Bangladesh on July 7, 1998.

“I joined the OUAT as a scientist in 1976 and was associated with development and release of 49 high-yielding rice varieties. However, my wishes to work with the IRRI had not materialised then. Only towards the end of my stint at the OUAT, I got an offer from the IRRI to help them in plant breeding and genetics. The recognition through the Senadhira award, which came later, is more overwhelming as it made me forget all the difficulties that I faced in life. I had to neglect many things in life to give space to rice research,” Das added.

At present, there are some 64 varieties of rice in the net house of the rice breeding station at the OUAT. The conventional method of rice breeding might look a bit old-fashioned to agricultural scientists, but after the Manila experience, Das has realised that without having emphasis on traditional rice research scientists of the present era are now feeling that they have to provide sponsorship to students to pursue career in plant breeding with conventional techniques.

“Molecular tools or research with bio-technology cannot yield holistic results in case of creating better rice varieties. But in most of the research institutes, the young researchers are only concerned with their laboratory-based findings with marker genes. It is okay that the specific genes will enable one to get a particular trait or expression such as a disease or weather resistance capabilities in a shorter period. But, the researcher must go to the field and see the overall productivity in action,” he said.

Saying that laboratory researchers should go to field regularly to have a knowledge on aspects such as grain size, flowering pattern, physical growth of rice plants and their overall development, Das urged the young scientists (especially those working in the field of molecular biology) to establish links with conventional breeding process so that with the growth of resistant traits, the overall crop productivity can be addressed.