BENGALURU: The state government needs to urgently act on UNESCO’s directions to protect the Aghanashini Estuary for its unique ecological and economical value, and a 2025 study by the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), highlighted the importance of the region that is a 48-sq km tidal wetland in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district, formed where the Aghanashini River meets the Arabian Sea.
Aghanashini estuary is important not just for its ecological value but also for its economic value. A unique variety of rice, Kagga, is grown here by farmers and fishermen.
The CES report ‘Wise Use of Aghanashini Estuary: Ramsar Wetland of International Importance’, researchers suggest that a GI tag be given to Kagga, the unique salt-tolerant rice variety grown in the Ramsar site. They pointed out that estuarine rice fields, or gaznis, have an estimated 230-350 tonnes of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) per hectare, and that too in the top one metre.
Cultivation of Kagga, a regional speciality, in the estuarine rice fields has been a major occupation in the estuarine villages for generations. The researchers note that the increasing trend of auctioning flooded gazni rice fields for fishing rights has alienated traditional fishermen from the system, paving the way for the arrival of contractors.
They also noted that farmers are now losing interest in Kagga farming due to increased flooding with salt water tides and the risks involved.
The teams conducted the study for the state forest department in 2025 and submitted it recently for implementation, said Prof TV Ramachandra from CES, IISc, co-author of the report.
The report also stated that Kagal gazni, without a single mangrove tree, has almost 1130tonnes/ha SOC, comparable with some of the best mangrove areas of the equatorial region.
“The other two gaznis where we analysed the soil revealed 420tonnes/ha of SOC in Bridge gazni, and about 590tonnes/ha in Manikatta gazni. This is the first time we have been able to unravel the fact that the neglected estuarine rice fields can, if their traditional cultivation system is restored, make a tremendous contribution towards more sequestration of SOC (in addition to biomass carbon) and provide without any additional human input, food security of a rare kind in terms of the very nutritious Kagga rice, which is currently on the verge of extinction,” Ramachandra said.
A forest department official said: “The report is before the State government for assessment and implementation.” It has come at a time when UNESCO directed the state government to undertake stringent measures for protection and conservation of the region.