Three lowland rice varieties viz. Durga, Gayatri and Sarala were introduced in the submergence prone area of Orissa state and the varieties have spread to 51 percent of the lowland area within three years in the target villages. Durga was adopted much faster than the other two varieties because of its higher submergence tolerance ability. The returns from all the three modern varieties were found to be attractive in comparison to traditional varieties and the additional income generated ha^-1 was Rs 4736 from these varieties. The additional employment generation by the cultivation of these modern varieties was found to be 23 man days ha^-1. These varieties have added 825 kg of rice ha^-1, which has improved the household food security of poor farmers. Due to popularity of the varieties, seed exchange of 1802 kg has taken place among farmers, both within and outside the village.