Asian Agri-History Vol. 17, No. 2, 2013 (123–139) 123 Full-length paper Sustaining Rice Landraces In-situ and on Farm through Biocultural Diversity in Koraput, Odisha, India Smita Mishra 1 , Susanta Sekhar Chaudhury 2 , and VA Nambi 1 1. MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), 3 rd Cross Street, Taramani Institutional Area, Chennai 600113, Tamil Nadu, India (email: smita@mssrf.res.in; smitamishra_jp@yahoo.com) 2. Biju Patnaik Medicinal Plant Garden and Research Center, Makaput, Jeypore 764002, Koraput, Odisha, India Abstract The paper is an effort to highlight the inter linkage between human culture, on-farm diversity, and traditional practices of tribal farming communities in sustaining landraces and ancestral rice varieties. Koraput (Odisha) is known to be a center of origin and diversity of Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa). A large number of rice varieties having diverse morphological and agronomic characters are cultivated by different tribal groups in this region. Agriculture is the primary occupation of most of these tribal communities, and rice is the chief crop used for consumption, local trade, sociocultural rituals, and magico-religious celebrations. Three tribal groups cultivate thirty-seven varieties of rice under diverse agro-ecologies, of which eleven varieties have strong cultural associations. Tribal communities celebrate agricultural rituals throughout the year and use specific rices for each and every rite. Coarse, oval, long, and slender rices having white, light red, and red kernels, with diverse maturity dates, have been preserved by them through in-situ and on-farm practices. Sustaining these tribal practices will help not only in the conservation and evolution of rice varieties in their natural habitats, but also in coping with changing temperature and rainfall patterns, and benefit generations in the future. The predominance of Oryza sativa (Asian cultivated rice) in Southeast Asian countries has led to rice-centered agricultural, economic, and social systems throughout the Pacific Rim (van der Kroef, 1952; Piper, 1993; Walker, 1994; Sponsel, 2000). Over hundreds of years, the widespread cultivation and use of diverse rice landraces has helped conserve an impressive genetic diversity interwoven with a rich human cultural diversity and rice-based traditions (Terwiel, 1994; Hardjana, 2001; Hamilton, 2003). In spite of these efforts, there is a lacuna in the understanding of the broad socio-cultural context which is also responsible for selecting and conserving rice varieties on the farm. Thus there is a requirement to include biocultural approaches for effective short- and long- term conservation of our living heritage involving farm families in research programs (Pfeiffer, 2004).