Indian farmers grow Indonesia's famous blue rice

The rice looks purple when cooked. It came to India through trade relations between Indonesia and Assam. At present, this rice is sold in the market at Rs. 300 to 500 per kg. It is counted among the exportable rice in Assam, Manipur and Punjab.

Ahmednagar: Vikas Arote, a farmer from Mehnduri in Ahmednagar district, has successfully cultivated Indonesian rice in his field. Now other farmers are cultivating this paddy.

Vikas Arote, has studied mechanical engineering. However, he did not enjoy his work after which he chose to farm.

Arote, who developed an interest in farming once went to Assam to bring marigold seedlings to carrying out various experiments in agriculture. There he saw blue and black paddy being cultivated. Raosaheb Bendre, a consultant in the agriculture department in Assam from Nagar district, showed Arote two types of paddy, blue and black.

He then brought 3 kgs of blue variety of rice with him. He prepared all these rice seedlings and cultivated them across 5 acres field. They have produced 200 kgs of seeds from it and now this year they have cultivated this blue paddy in an area of 20 acres.

After seeing Arote's success, 20 other farmers from Dhamanvan and Shirpunje areas of Akole taluka have also cultivated this blue paddy in their fields. This rice has grown vigorously.

This is said to be the first experiment of black rice cultivation in the state. This rice has medicinal properties. Also, it is high in fibre, iron, copper, antioxidants.

While talking about this, Arote said that he is the first one to experiment with the cultivation of the black-blue rice. He also wishes to brand this variety of rice grown and sell it. The farmer added that Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray will help in this. He is hopeful that he will get a good response to this experiment not just at the state level but from the Centre as well. He concluded by saying that he wishes to export this too in the future.

In India, it is known as 'Assamese Black Rice'. It is in high demand in five-star hotels.

This rice looks purple when cooked. It came to India through trade relations between Indonesia and Assam. At present, this rice is sold in the market at Rs. 300 to 500 per kg. It is counted among the exportable rice in Assam, Manipur and Punjab.