New paddy variety on 250 acres hit by rice blast disease in Wayanad

Expert says ‘Manuvarna’ strain was intended for cultivation in kole fields and wetland ecosystems

Rice blast, a fungal disease affecting paddy, is haunting farmers who had raised “Manuvarna”, a new rice variety released by the Kerala Agricultural University recently, on more than 250 acres in Wayanad district.

K. Kesava Marar, president of the Cheekkallur Padashekhara Samiti, cultivated the new rice variety on 70 acres of rented land after learning from some farmers in Palakkad district that it had given higher yields than the traditional rice varieties.

Mr. Marar, along with 60 other farmers of the samiti, procured the 4,600 kg of seeds from the Kerala Agricultural University at a cost of ₹42 kg.