Bhubaneswar, Feb. 21: The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority today distributed certificates to 42 farmers of the state for producing indigenous rice varieties.

The authority, established in 2005 after the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act was passed in Parliament in 2001, works for recognition and protection of the farmers’ rights with respect to their contribution towards conservation and improvement of the plant varieties.

With the certificates in their names, the farmers will own the rights over the rice variety for 15 years. If any agency wishes to develop the varieties, the farmers will have a share.

From Odisha, there are rights claims over 900 varieties of rice. The region is also home to some of the old varieties of rice and most of them are found in Jeypore tract of Koraput district.

Ravi Prakash, registrar (farmers’ rights) of the authority, today gave away the certificates in Bhubaneswar to the farmers from across Balasore, Keonjhar, Koraput and Nuapada.

Prakash said: “The act recognises a farmer as a scientist. They have to register their rice with us. The certification is according to the World Trade Organisation and the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights norms.”

Purna Chandra Rout, a farmer from Tarimul in Keonjhar district, was awarded for his rice variety “Samulei”.

He said: “It is a tribute to our forefathers and the local community members as they have preserved the rice variety.”

Director of the agriculture and food production R.S. Gopalan said: “Odisha has become the only state to apply for nearly 900 farmers’ varieties. There are 3,000 applications. Our farmers have contributed immensely while conducting field trials and documentation during the registration process of their own rice varieties.”

As many as 411 farmers will get their testimonials within three to four months. The state is also planning to apply for farmers’ rights in 50 pulse varieties.

“A study, conducted by the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation in 1970, had found 1,700 varieties of rice only in Koraput region. However, many varieties have either vanished from the fields or people have stopped cultivating them. Our aim is to encourage indigenous varieties,” said Gopalan.