Raipur: Scientists in a central Indian state have developed a variety of rice that they say will help fight malnutrition in the country.

The high zinc-enriched rice will be tested in tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh state that has nearly 700,000 malnourished children.

The new paddy seed, called “Chhattisgarh Zinc Rice-1,” was launched by the state variety release committee, the authority for official release of new varieties of seeds, in March and its production is likely to begin from the next kharif season.

Similarly, researchers from Indira Gandhi Agriculture University (IGAU), Raipur, led by Professor Girish Chandel, have rolled out two varieties of high zinc rice, of which one has been released.

“We focused on increasing our crop production since the inception of the ‘green revolution’ in the country aiming to eliminate hunger. In the process, we managed to yield high production, but the quality of crop did not improve,” Chandel told The Press Trust of India.

In 2000, the federal government, along with, health organizations in a survey found that 60-70 percent of population was suffering from malnutrition because of deficiency of micronutrients, particularly iron, zinc and vitamin A.

Following this, the government decided to launch a research program to improve the variety of three staple crops — rice, wheat and maize — in different states, Chandel said.

Under the program, Chhattisgarh, considered as the rice bowl of the country, decided to work on the quality aspect and took up “Rice Bio Fortification Research Project”.

In the first phase of the project in 2003-2005, some 200 rice germplasm lines with high grain nutritive values but low-yielding quality were identified, he said.

Subsequently, in the next phase of 2006-11, seeds were multiplied and subjected to genetic improvement exercise, which led to seven high-yielding zinc-enriched rice varieties.

In 2013, the federal government decided to conduct a separate exercise coordinated by Directorate of Rice Research (DRR), Hyderabad, to analyse the outcome of the researches being conducted in different parts of the country.

Finally, four varieties were adjudged best in terms of quality, of which the top two came from Chhattisgarh.

“Currently, we have 100kg seeds of this new variety and we are further planning to multiply it in 10 acres. By November-December this year, we will distribute it to around 5,000 farmers across the state. Its sowing would be started in the next kharif season,” he said.