Traditional Wheat Varieties of India You Should Know About

Kathiya, Banshi and Paigambari are the three most visible landraces today, but they are a small fraction of what Indian farmers grew before high yield varieties took over most cultivated area from the late 1960s onward.

What happened to the rest

Every region once kept its own locally adapted landrace, selected over generations for that specific soil and rainfall.
Most were never commercially named. They disappeared from farms as growers switched to higher yielding varieties.
Many survive only in gene banks now, kept specifically as a hedge against losing that genetic diversity entirely.
The handful that stayed in commercial cultivation share one trait: a distinguishing characteristic strong enough to justify the yield trade off.
This is not unique to wheat. Rice, millet and pulse landraces went through the same consolidation.

Picked this week

The survivors

Bagi Farm I · Bagi

Kathiya Wheat Flour

$6.22 · 10 KG

Bagi Farm II · Bagi

Banshi Wheat Flour

$0.67 · 1 KG

Sajerah Farm II · Sajerah

Paigambari Wheat Flour

$0.67 · 1 KG

Our standards

Traditional wheat variety questions

Why did most traditional wheat varieties disappear?: Lower yield made them uneconomical once government supported high yield varieties spread from the 1960s onward.
Are traditional wheat varieties always more expensive?: Generally yes, from lower yield and smaller scale farming, not from an automatic health advantage.
Can these varieties scale up if demand grows?: Only partially. Many were selected for hardiness on poor soil, a trait that trades off against yield by nature.
Where can I learn about wheat native to my own region?: State agricultural universities and local Krishi Vigyan Kendras keep records of regional landraces.

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