Let’s start with a simple question: what’s in your bowl of rice?
For over two-thirds of India, the answer is comfort, tradition, and sustenance. It’s the foundation of a meal, the filler of bellies, the canvas for dals and curries. But what if that same humble bowl could do more? What if it could be a powerful weapon in the long fight against a silent enemy called ‘hidden hunger’?
Across India’s vast and varied agricultural tapestry, a quiet revolution is sprouting — not through protests or high-tech gadgets, but through the patient work of farmers and scientists. At the heart of this story are two men who have never met.
Two farmers, one shared experiment
In Bakingia village, nestled amid the forested hills of Kandhamal in Odisha, 46-year-old Hemanta Pradhan tends his paddy fields with the practised eye of generations before him.
Hundreds of miles away, in Sangramnagar village in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, 35-year-old Rajesh Singh Yadav works the fertile alluvial plains that have long sustained his community.
Different landscapes. Different farming histories. Yet their journeys converge on one unlikely common ground: CR Dhan 310 — India’s first officially released high-protein biofortified rice variety.
Rethinking rice: beyond yield
Born in the laboratories of the Cuttack-based ICAR–National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), CR Dhan 310 was imagined differently from the yield-obsessed breeding programmes of the Green Revolution era.
Scientists began with a provocative question: what if a bowl of rice could fight hidden hunger, not just fill a plate?
Conventional rice, while rich in carbohydrates, contains only six to eight percent protein in milled form and loses much of its iron, zinc and vitamins during polishing.
In villages where rice is eaten two or three times a day, this nutritional shift becomes more than a marginal tweak.
CR Dhan 310 pushes that boundary to over 10 percent protein — 10.2–10.3% in polished rice — while also offering higher glutelin fractions that are easier to digest and moderate zinc content.
What Makes CR Dhan 310 Different?
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Over 10% protein content in polished rice
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Higher digestible glutelin protein fraction
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Moderate zinc levels
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Comparable yields to popular high-yielding varieties
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Familiar grain type and cooking quality
In villages where rice is eaten two or three times a day, this nutritional shift becomes more than a marginal tweak. It becomes a quiet intervention against protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies — the invisible crisis known as “hidden hunger.”
From laboratory to field
“Biofortified rice is developed through conventional breeding or genetic approaches to enhance its nutritional profile,” explains Dr Krishnendu Chattopadhyay of ICAR-NRRI.
Starting with the high-yielding variety Naveen, the research team stacked protein traits while preserving familiar plant architecture and grain characteristics. In 2018, their work earned ICAR’s Nanaji Deshmukh Award.
But release notifications are one thing. Farmer trust is another.
Kandhamal: A test in tribal terrain
In 2025, the SAHARA organisation introduced CR Dhan 310 to farmers in five villages of Odisha’s Kandhamal district. Sixty-five farmers cultivated the variety across 60 acres.
The yields — about six quintals per acre — were modest compared to national trials but significant for challenging rainfed hill terrain.
The yields — about six quintals per acre — were modest compared to national trials but significant for challenging rainfed hill terrain.
For Hemanta Pradhan, the shift came with questions:
Would his family accept the taste?
Would traders buy an unfamiliar grain?
Would higher protein translate into visible health benefits?
Over two seasons, as he watched the plants withstand dry spells and produce well-filled panicles, scepticism turned into cautious optimism.
Uttar Pradesh: Scaling through collectives
In eastern Uttar Pradesh, the introduction followed a more organised route. Prayag Samruddhi Producer Company sourced foundation seed from ICAR-NRRI and began with just four farmers before expanding to 34 others across multiple villages.
Training sessions, on-field demonstrations and digital advisory tools played a critical role in building trust among farmers accustomed to small, aromatic varieties.
Improved agronomic practices such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) further strengthened outcomes.
By the second season, yields averaged around 54.6 quintals per hectare, with some farmers achieving as high as 78 quintals per hectare.
Women at the centre of the seed system
In 2022, ICAR-NRRI signed MoUs with seven Farmer-Producer Companies in Uttar Pradesh for seed production and commercialisation.
Together, these FPCs counted around 7,444 members — 57% of them women — signalling a deliberate attempt to place women farmers and agripreneurs at the centre of the value chain.
Seed production rose steadily, with projections indicating expansion beyond pilot plots into broader market channels.
In 2022, ICAR-NRRI signed MoUs with seven Farmer-Producer Companies in Uttar Pradesh for seed production and commercialisation.
Acceptance, however, remains gradual.
Many consumers still prefer aromatic or traditional varieties. As plain table rice, CR Dhan 310 may not immediately rival specialty grains in urban kitchens.
Where it may find stronger footing is in value-added and institutional segments:
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Baby food formulations for Anganwadis
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Poshan Kit blends under government nutrition schemes
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Rice-based snacks and extruded products
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School feeding programmes
Here, its higher protein content becomes a clear selling point rather than an invisible trait.
Nutrition, processing and reality
Clinical Nutritionist Sonal H Chandalia points out that while the protein advantage is real, milling reduces fibre — making the glycemic index comparable to other milled cereals. The nutritional upgrade exists, but processing methods influence its final impact.
CR Dhan 310 is part of a broader biofortification push that includes zinc- and iron-rich rice varieties and ongoing exploration of nutrient-enhanced crops.
Rather than treating agriculture and nutrition as separate silos, biofortification attempts to embed health directly into staple crops — turning everyday food into preventive intervention.
A revolution, season by season
The road to mainstream acceptance is slow and relational. NGOs, FPCs and farmer groups invest in awareness, training and negotiation with traders. Neighbours watch early adopters carefully before taking the plunge.
For Hemanta Pradhan, it is the sight of full panicles against Kandhamal’s hills. For Rajesh Singh Yadav, it is the hope that his grain might one day reappear as fortified baby cereal or a school snack.
Yet with every harvest, more households taste the grain. More FPO meetings discuss branding and institutional markets. More farmers begin to see potential beyond a single season’s income.
For Hemanta Pradhan, it is the sight of full panicles against Kandhamal’s hills. For Rajesh Singh Yadav, it is the hope that his grain might one day reappear as fortified baby cereal or a school snack.
CR Dhan 310 shows how innovation rarely arrives with spectacle. It travels through trust, persuasion and patience — until, quietly, it reshapes the everyday bowl of rice.
