Kerala state of India had a very rich diversity of native rice cultivars. A considerable part of it had disappeared from farmers’ fields due to the intervention of modern agriculture. An effort has been made to revisit the hamlets of the traditional farmers of the state and to analyse the extent of variability of native rices available in such areas. Thirty nine cultivars were collected and their genetic variability was studied. The cultivars were found

to be very rich in genetic diversity and many of them showed their competence in terms of many agronomic characters. Varieties like Chitteni, Chettadi, Ponmani, Ponnariyan, Arikkinai, Athian, Muttuppatta, Palakkadan, Navara and Kuthiru yielded more than 15 g plant^-1.