Shimla, July 30 - Scientists are trying to protect a traditional rice variety that is on the verge of extinction in Himachal Pradesh. The red rice is more disease-resistant and hardier than strains cultivated commercially over most of India and can lend that through cross-breeding.

'We are trying to provide legal protection to the vanishing red rice variety, grown in the state for centuries, by bringing it under the ambit of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001,' R.P. Kaushik, director of the rice research centre at CSK HP Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, an agricultural university based in Palampur. told IANS.

At present, most of the red rice is grown in around 1,000 hectares on the banks of the Pabbar, a tributary of the Yamuna river, in Chhohara Valley in upper Shimla. It is also cultivated in some stretches of Kullu and Kangra districts.

Red rice can be grown in flooded fields where many varieties would rot. Apart from that, agriculture experts are keen to conserve all traditional crop strains that can be used in case the more widely cultivated varieties develop a disease they cannot cope with.

However, red rice production is declining in recent years as most farmers in the state have turned to lucrative cash crops.

Kaushik said legal protection to the rice variety would also protect the rights of the farmers and enable them and others to market the product around the world.

'If the red rice is brought under the ambit of the act, it would protect the rights of the farmers in respect of their contribution towards conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources for the development of new plant varieties,' he said.

Under the act, a plant breeder wanting to use the farmers' varieties to derive another will have to first seek the permission of the farmers. 'With the registration, due benefits could be extended to the local farmers,' Kaushik said.