RICE: 130 varieties
• Thopchini: mota chaaval or fat rice which gives a very good yield ranging between 70-72 quintals per hectare; 75 per cent of the rice can be recovered after pounding

• Jhumkia: the ear of the rice is like a jhumka (earring); 75 per cent of the rice is recovered after pounding

• Nagni basmati: red and white Grains

• Kaphafiya: resembles a mountain fruit called kaiphal, a small mulberry like fruit which is used to treat gynaelogical disorders

• Gorakhpuri: a fast-growing variety

• Chowarn red grain with red stalks, starchy and high-aftitude tolerant. Every three to four years in rice cultivation, the chowari variety is planted. Being red stalked, it is easily separable from the green weeds which are then weeded out.

• Bangook black stemmed Other varieties of rice include bakuli, chaavariya, almothi. panariya. kshailopaar, chakki and kalao.

WHEAT: 8 varieties
• Mishri: of two types, white and red. Gets its name for it tastes like mishri (sugar candy). The rotis made

• rom this flour are so soft that they can be crumpled like a handkerchief

• Mundhri., no hair on the cob Qust like after a mundan, a ritual where all the hair of a child is shaved off)

• Ringalaya: named after its height, the plant is tall and grows like the ringal bamboo

• Kaathi: this wheat variety is not fussy about where it grows and can grow on rain-fed as well as irrigated lands

MILLETS: 40 varieties
• Jhangora: high on nutrition

• Kangnk. good for people who cannot digest rice. Generally given to children suffering from measles.

A number of these native varieties of crops are getting rare by the day -ramdana, buckwheat or phaper, china and kangni to name a few.