We call rice ‘Akshat’ -- the permanent, everlasting, unbroken, undamaged, whole. India is the centre of diversity of rice. From one wild grass Oryza Sativa, Indian peasants evolved 200,000 rice varieties that are nutrition-rich and climate-resilient.
Rice, akshat is a symbol of prana, breath and prosperity. For thousands of years akshat has had a cultural resonance in Indian ethos. Each traditional variety has its own traditional and cultural significance. Festivals related to the different agricultural aspects in the village communities are associated with akshat.
akshat has its origin in the Indian soil as the term sativa indica indicates; it has been weaving the cultural and social fabric of India since millennia. From a wild aquatic grass, Indian farmers, over the centuries, selected and cultivated thousands of varieties of rice. The varietal diversity of cultivated rice in India can be considered to be the richest in the world, a diversity of 2,00,000 varieties. Navdanya farmers have conserved more than 4000 of these varieties.
Navdanya brings you a rich diversity of India’s indigenous rice varieties. We have conserved drought tolerant, flood tolerant and salt torelent varieties. Navdanya’s organic communities from himalaya to the coastal regions of orissa and the hill tracts of the north east have grown aromatic rice, red rice, brown rice. Celebrate this gift of diverse nutritions, health, organic food while contributing to the livelihood and ecological practices of the small marginal farmers.