There has been one Khobragade family – an IAS father and IFS daughter that has been in news in 2013/2014 nationally and internationally. Here is a piece of news on another Khobragade a primary school educated farmer whose efforts have lead to improvement. I’m not sure how many of you know about Dadaji Ramaji Khobragade? He is the man who is behind the innovation of HMT rice, the improved and best rice variety. The invention of HMT rice was not an easy task, the man behind it had to put many years in research, experimenting, analyzing and observation, to cultivate a better rice variety. This was done despite limited education, lack of funds and many other obstacles.
He is a farmer scientist who studied only up to class III. Having no educational background, no support and no financial aid he invented a highly successful variety of paddy called HMT rice that yields 80 percent more than the conventional variety.
He received many awards for his work – Krishi Bhushan award (http://envis.maharashtra.gov.in/envis_data/?q=node/944), Rastrapati award (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-16/nagpur/28238687_1_variety-paddy-farming-rice) and the National award from National Innovative Foundation (http://www.nif.org.in/forbes_news). Forbes recognized his efforts and mentioned him in the Most Powerful Rural Indians list for his great innovation in rice production.
About Dadaji and his work on HMT rice:
70 year old Dadaji is from a small forest village in Nanded district of Maharashtra. He is the owns two acres of land and he supports his seven-member family.
Five years of continuous research:
In 1983, Dadaji saw three yellow-seeded paddy spikes (lomb) in his field, planted with the Patel-3 paddy variety. He picked the three spikes and stored them in a plastic bag for the next season. In the next season, he sowed them in the middle of the field. He noticed that this variety yielded high. In the following year, he sowed these seeds separately and noticed he got 10 kg of husk rice. On cooking, he found that this rice is much tastier than Patel-variety rice.
Small start:
In 1988, he sowed four kgs of seed in a small area of 10 sq. ft., and it produced 400 to 450 kgs of rice. The following year, he sowed 100 to 150 kgs of seed, from which he obtained 50 bags of paddy. He sold the seeds about 40 bags to a trader at Nagpur.
Dadaji’s Achievements are ignored by scientific community:
Dadaji didn’t want to limit his discovery for his own benefit, so he approached a paddy research station. But they refused to recognize his work because it was not based on scientific research techniques.
Dadaji’s innovation was stolen:
In 1994 “Siddheswari Rice Station, a part of Punjabrao Krishi Vidyapith approached Dadaji and took 5 kgs of seeds for experimenting. In the year 1998, it released a variety named PKV HMT. When Dadaji approached them, they told his variety was impure and they purified it into new variety.
Dadaji’s work was finally recognized:
Finally, his work was recognized when some experts came to a conclusion that there is no difference between HMT rice and PKV-HMT rice.
At present, Dadaji’s HMT rice is grown on lakhs of hectares all over India and marketed in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Dadaji Khobragade positive impact on society is big:
Despite no formal education in agriculture – his hard work, perseverance and patience has been paid off. Thanks to his efforts lakhs of acres are getting 80% higher yield and crores of people are getting to eat fine rice that is more tasty. Not only one farmer getting higher yield but also better prices because the customer is willing to pay more for this variety of rice.