Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand visited Balarampur Agriculture Research Centre and praised its scientists and local villagers for producing Jeeraphool rice through the help of local self help group (SHG).
The Chief Secretary also appreciated the SHG chief for his contribution to the efforts and helping the villagers earn good profit.
The farmers of the village, located near archaeologically important Dipadih, about 80 kms away from Balarampur have been cultivating scented Jeeraphool variety of paddy for the past several decades.
The area is surrounded by forest and the forest litter including the rotten leaves make the land fertile in the area. The farmers have been cultivating Jeeraphool variety of organic rice without using any chemical fertilisers.
The farmers said rice millers and other traders have been buying this variety of rice at Rs23 per kg.
The scientists of the Agriculture Research Centre helped the farmers to improve their employability and provided training on better milling and packaging of the rice.
As part of this training, packets each having five kilogram of rice were created. Vice chancellor of Indira Gandhi Agriculture University Dr SK Patil had provided the farmers bag closure machines in a function held at the Research Centre on February 13 this year.
The University had also felicitated the farmers and presented to them certificates for their unique efforts.