Dr. Prakash Gandhi

Khabragade selected and bred the HMT rice variety from the conventional 'Patel 3',a popular variety developed by Dr.J.P.Patel, JNKV Agiculture University,Jabalpur.He succeeded after five years of continuous study and research on a small farm owned by him without any support from the scientific community.This variety has an average yield of 40-45 quintals per hectare with short grains,high rice recovery(80%),better smell and cooking quality in comparison with the parent ones.Most remarkable feature of the variety is the thinness of grain.It has been included as a standard reference for thinness by Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers'Right Authority(PPVFRA). He won the National Award in NIF's Third National Competition.NIF has filed an application under PPVFRA 2001 to register his varietyApart from HMT he has also developed six other paddy varieties namely DRK,Vijay Anand,Nanded Chinur,Nanded 92 ,Deepak Ratna and Nanded Hira.He regrets that local agricultural university took the credit merely for purifying the seeds and did not give him the due honour.HMT has diffused in more than one lac acres in five states.

The innovator developed this rice variety over a period of 5 years by experimenting and cultivating it on his own land. Most of the farmers in the Vidharbha region have started growing as it fetches them a better price and has improved their economic situation.

• Short grains.
• Smells and tastes better than the parent variety .
• Yield higher than any other variety of rice in the Vidarbha region.

Application filled under Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001. Application No :Reg/2008/138.

Rs. 1200 per quintal

GIAN has already transferred the technology, though on a non-exclusive basis, to an entrepreneur from Ahmedabad for Marketing and Manufacturing in the whole of India.