BASUDHA RELOCATED to Odisha

After the 2010 experience of too late arrival of the monsoon, we were worried about the likely recurrence of drought in 2011 and afterwards. Although Basudha's accession of ca. 700 folk rice varieties includes 14 drought-tolerant landraces that can withstand too late and too scanty rain, all the other varieties, especially those adapted to low- and deep low-land conditions, cannot survive in the event of prolonged drought period. The impending drought poses a great threat to the survival of our rice genetic diversity on Basudha farm, which has no irrigation facility. (Irrigation by pumping up groundwater is an unsustainable option.)