A Treasure of Crop Diversity from Outstanding Farmer-Breeder, JP Singh (India)

Summary

Jaiprakash Singh (aka JP) is an outstanding organic farmer breeder of several important and widely cultivated crops like rice, wheat, pigeon pea and mustard. He started this work more than 2 decades ago, and presently has 480 varieties of rice, 120 varieties of wheat, 40 varieties of pigeon pea, 3 varieties of mustard; also some chillies and tomatoes. These varieties are ‘developed’ or evolved over many crop cycles through a process of multi-generational selection for distinct features and qualities, including grain yield, pest resistance, special nutritive values, flavour, fragrance, grain size, shape, colour, etc. The varieties bred by JP are particularly useful for many farmers still following or reverting to indigenous organic system in India.
JP’s 5 acre farm is located near Varanasi in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Several of his crop varieties are becoming popular among many farmers in the northern and central belts of India.