Telangana farmer and Padma Shri awardee Chintala Venkat Reddy is once again in the national news with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat program on Radio.
Talking about National Science Day and the importance of knowing more about Indian scientists and Indian science itself, Modi said he wanted students and the younger generation to know and read more about Indian science, the domain of which was much beyond labs. Stressing on the mantra of ‘Lab to Land’, the Prime Minister first said about the ‘innovative farmer’ from Hyderabad, Chintala Venkat Reddy.Chintala developed rice and wheat with Vitamin D.
In 2018-2019, Chintala tested the sample of wheat to find 1,606 international units (IU) of vitamin D. The second year, it had increased to 1,803 IU.
The basmati rice showed 136 IU in 2019 and 287 IU in 2021,” .Chintala took the samples to Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University and government officials, who tested them in different soil conditions.
“The results tallied with slight variations. But they all showed a presence of vitamin D,” Chintala says, adding that he immediately rushed to file an international patent with WIPO in 2019, and received approval in August 2020.
Chintala says this new variety of rice can help address malnutrition issues in India and other countries such as Africa. “I am ready to sign an MoU to share the technique and formulation so a farmer will be able to grow it. Selling a unique variety of rice and wheat will also help to increase their income,” he adds.
Apart from these recent achievements, Chintala is also known for his organic ‘muddy solution’ to control locusts and other pests from attacking crops.
