And we thought farmers could learn greentech from us!
Showcased @ EAI INCLINE
An inspiring story from The Better India on how a Telangana farmer Chintala Venkat Reddy has innovated a rice and wheat variety to get incorporated with vitamin D through natural processes. He won an international patent too for this from WIPO. (read more – https://bit.ly/3dQlNYF )
Given the recent global frenzy around Vitamin D deficiency, it is indeed a welcome development if rice-based food could give me some shots of this vitamin.
The more important point, in my opinion, is the intelligence and expertise available with our farmers. Chintala might have had the access and resources to take his research to the market, but there are tens of thousands of farmers who know stuff that will die with them – unless there are mechanisms to codify them.
India’s National Innovation Foundation ( https://nif.org.in/ ) has been doing excellent work for over two decades to identify and commercialize such
grassrootsinnovation but is even that enough to a country with 130-150 million farmers?
EAI INCLINE wishes Chintala and innovative farmers the very best.
Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University
See my LinkedIn post on this topic