Network Analysis and Trait Distribution of Traditional Rice Varieties in the Western Ghats: Implications for Climate-Resilient Agriculture

Traditional rice varieties (TRVs) play a crucial role in bolstering agricultural resilience to climate change, thanks to their unique climate-adaptive traits. Typically, characters of these native varieties are studied from a life sciences perspective, focusing on their morphological and physiological features. Diverging from this approach, we investigated this critical topic through a social science lens. Our study analyzes the co-occurrence and distribution of climate-resilient traits in TRVs cultivated in Wayanad, a significant agro-biodiversity hotspot in the Western Ghats of India, utilizing secondary data. The patterns and distribution of these traits remain largely unexplored, limiting their potential to be harnessed for sustainable farming—an issue we sought to address in this research. Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), we identified notable interactions among traits, such as lodging resistance found across different TRVs. Additionally, cluster analysis revealed two distinct varietal groups, primarily differentiated by straw yield. The findings emphasize the importance of understanding trait distribution patterns to guide agricultural biodiversity conservation efforts and promote traditional rice varieties as sustainable options for climate-resilient farming.