Varsha Sharma, who lives on a small farm in Himachal Pradesh, India, has experienced some difficult times in recent years.
Her family have been cultivating rice for over a hundred years, but unpredictable rainfall and water having been directed to other industries have caused difficulties with the farming.
Seven years ago, she changed over to cultivating a hybrid variety of rice and planting apples, nevertheless this only led to new difficulties.
This hybrid rice variety was said to improve yields, but ultimately required substantial additions of fertilizers which in turn injured the soil.
"She states that chemicals and fertilizers were responsible for the destruction of our soils,"
In 2018, she decided to try something different by using red rice, a kind of grain that has been a part of the Himachal Pradesh region for a long time but is becoming less common as farmers move to newer types.
Red rice has alluring attributes. Not only is it robust, and can thrive without synthetic fertilisers or other compounds, it has also been found to be nutritionally superior to white rice.
Farmers might be especially drawn to the fact that it is a good seller.
Ms Sharma states that red rice can bring a good price in the retail market, with it usually being between $3 and $4 per kilo due to its organic status, and this is helping a great deal of farmers, including her.
The government of Himachal Pradesh is aiming to cultivate 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of land with red rice to increase its production.
Other traditional varieties of rice are also being promoted.
Almost half of the arable land in West Bengal, India's largest rice producing state, is used for rice cultivation.
This location is the home to over 5,000 distinct types of rice, but the majority of them are not cultivated anymore.
Anjan Kumar Sinha, the founder of ARSWS (Socio-Environmental Welfare Society), argues that farmers are just focused on increasing output, so they are switching to hybrid varieties.
He states that cultivating hybrid rice species can be costly.
The use of hybrid seeds leads to a heightened requirement for pesticides as well as an unsustainable surge in expenses.
Mr Sinha states that Indigenous rice seed varieties have been able to adjust to their local settings and are tolerant to drought and overflowing. He adds that India is home to a number of varieties of rice seed that can even grow without water.
Those enlisted in his organisation receive a complimentary kilo of seeds, with the potential to generate up to 60kg of rice. As a gesture of thanks, the farmers return a kilo of seeds.
He mentions that these types could be essential to sustaining agriculture in arid zones.
India is a major consumer and producer of rice, and is also the largest exporter of the grain worldwide.
In July, in order to address the issue of spiking domestic prices caused by adverse weather conditions impacting crops, the Indian government prohibited the exportation of non-basmati white rice.
Following Russia's withdrawal from a deal which ensured Ukrainian grain could move securely, more strain was put on worldwide food sources.
According to Shankar Patnaik, who is also a farmer and seed conservationist, farmers grew rice from hybrid seeds with the goal of increasing production, but their intentions were misguided, as this decision resulted in them becoming more avaricious.
He states that utilizing great amounts of urea and fertilizers has caused harm to the soil, and now there are only a limited number of farmers utilizing traditional rice seeds.
Mr Patnaik owns 500 different kinds of rice and is testing them out on his 14 acre farm.
Mr Patnaik says that there are various indigenous rice varieties that could potentially have higher yields, yet their potential is not fully utilized. Even without the use of chemical fertilizers, one would still be able to obtain a good yield, although they are often disregarded and seen as low yielding varieties.
In addition to exploring different types of crops, Mr Patnaik is researching cultivation techniques that require less water.
He particularly employs the alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technique, where farmers flood fields, let them stand for a few days, and then inundate them again.
India's Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) encourages this process and works with farmers to make agricultural operations more sustainable.
GV Ramanjaneyulu, executive director of CSA, points out that rice requires a lot of water for cultivation as it is grown in waterlogged conditions and needs around 5,000 litres of water for every kilogram of rice.
He states that bacteria in rice ponds give off methane, and that flooding can damage the soil's structure and make it saltier.
He comments that there are currently numerous approaches for cultivating rice with decreased water usage that require more aid.
Mr Ramanjaneyulu states that there is neither appropriate campaigning nor instruction on these approaches; furthermore, farmers are not rewarded for making a conversion.
He remarked that many of the existing incentives like fertilizer subsidy, free electricity, canal irrigation, minimum support price and procurement, all are not in favour of the farmers pushing for more sustainable production. The way business is conducted today is rapidly changing due to the advancements in technology.
Business operations are evolving quickly as a result of technological advances.
Prema Devi from Farsali Malde (a village in Uttarakhand) has adopted a novel method.
Most of the inhabitants of the village are farmers, but they have had to deal with many issues due to large-scale climatic alterations. Their crops have been ruined by unexpected rainfall or lack of water, according to her.
In 2021, she began to decrease the amount of seeds for rice she was planting.
Rice seedlings are propagated in nurseries, after which they are moved to the main field in a period of 12-14 days. At this stage, the seedlings are planted with a spacing of 6-8 inches between each one.
According to Ms Devi, by having a gap between each plant it allows for more oxygen, and reduces competition between plants for resources like nutrients and sunlight.
She shares that her rice production has been increased to 100kg yearly as a result of the system.
She states that they found it hard to accept that the only modification they required was a minor alteration in procedure.
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