2018April 6,7,8 नागपूर बीजोत्सव | Nagpur Beejotsav

*आमंत्रण-पत्रिका*
🙏🌱🐾

बीजोत्सवाच्या सहाव्या पर्वात आपल्याला अगत्याचे निमंत्रण.
या वर्षी खालील संकल्पनांवर आधारित स्टॉल्स बीजोत्सवात पाहायला मिळतील:

◆ परंपरागत बियाणे
◆ विषमुक्त व सेंद्रिय शेतमाल◆ प्रकिया केलेली उत्पादने
◆ पर्यावरण-पूरक उपयोगी साधने
◆ शहरी कचरा व्यवस्थापन
◆ गच्चीवरील शेती
◆ धुरमुक्त स्वयंपाक
◆ रानमेवा/ वनोपज
◆ खादी, इत्यादि.

कार्यक्रमाचे वेळापत्रक:-
*६ एप्रिल*
सकाळी १० – उद्घाटन
सकाळी १०.३० - डॉ. अमिताभ पावडे - जीएम कापूस व त्याचे दुष्(परिणाम)
सकाळी ११.३० - डॉ. श्रीनिवास खांदेवाले – सेंद्रिय शेतीतील अर्थकारण
दुपारी २ ते रात्री १० – प्रदर्शन व विक्री

*७ एप्रिल*
सकाळी १० – संजय पाटील - सामुदायिक बियाणे संवर्धन
सकाळी ११ – गणेश बिराजदार - सेंद्रिय शेतीपद्धती स्वीकारातले अडथळे व अडचणी
दुपारी १२ ते रात्री १० – प्रदर्शन व विक्री

*८ एप्रिल*
सकाळी १० – डॉ. उल्हास जाजू - कृषी रसायने व ग्रामीण जनतेचे आरोग्य – एक अभ्यास
सकाळी १०.४५ – डॉ. तारक काटे – सेंद्रिय शेती सर्वांचे पोट भरू शकेल काय
सकाळी ११.३० – अविल बोरकर – बियाणे व जैवविविधता कायदा आणि शेतकरी वाण
 दुपारी १२ ते रात्री १० – प्रदर्शन व विक्री

*विशेष आकर्षण*:-
रोज संध्याकाळी ६ ते ९ या वेळात गीत, नाटक, वाद्य, चित्रे अश्या माध्यमांतून सादरीकरण.

रोज दुपारी २ पासून निरनिराळ्या चवींचा आनंद देणारे *खात्रीलायक सेंद्रिय माल वापरून बनवलेले विविध खाद्यपदार्थ*

*६-७-८ एप्रिल, म्युर मेमोरियल लॉन्स, सीताबर्डी, व्हेरायटी चौक, नागपूर .*
आकाश:- ९७६६९१२७४५
प्राजक्ता:-  ९३७२२०४६४१

शाश्वत व शोषणमुक्त समाज निर्मितीच्या प्रयत्नांत आपले सहर्ष स्वागत आहे. 🙏🙏🙏

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You are cordially invited to 6th Beejotsav Carnival 🙏🌱🐾

This year, visit variety of stalls promoting
◆ Indigenous Seeds
◆ Organic Farm-produce
◆ Processed organic products
◆ Urban waste management
◆ Sustainable lifestyle products
◆ Animal/ Forest produces
◆ Khadi etc.

Program Schedule:-
*6th April*
10 AM – Inauguration and Presentation of Survey by various farmer's organizations from Wardha – Vasant Futane
10.30 AM – Amitabh Pawade – ill Effets of GM Cotton
11.30 AM – Dr. Shriniwas Khandewale – Economy behind organic farming
 2 PM to 10 PM – Exhibition and Sale

*7th April*
10 AM – Sanjay Patil – Conservation of Indigenous seeds
11AM – Ganesh Birajdar – Challenges in adopting organic farming
12 Noon to 10 PM – Exhibition and Sale

*8th April*
10 AM – Dr. Ulhas Jajoo- Chemical Pesticides and related Health Issues
10.45AM- Dr. Tarak Kate - Can Organic Farming suffice country’s food needs ?
12.15 – Avil Borkar – Seed and Biodiversity Regulations
12 Noon to 10 PM – Exhibition and Sale

*Special Attractions:-*

◆ Treat yourself with original experiments in music, theatre, instrumental, caricatchers by artists from every nook and corner.
◆ Treat yourself with delicious organic food, to complete the experience

*6-7-8 April*
Mure Memorial Lawns, Variety Square, Opposite Eternity Mall, Sitaburdi, Nagpur.

*Akash :- 9766912745*
*Prajakta:-9372204641*

You are all welcome to be the part of the effort for sustainable and exploitation-free society. 🙏🙏🙏

WATCH : Relevant Full length Hindi movies

SOURCE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oo41oae-B0

SOURCE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFhxnudcWUQ

SOURCE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1abDV-wDPw

2018, April 21 & 22 | Awakin to Abundance - Capacity building program | @ Khalad, Pune

FROM Annadata.....citizens movement for safe food news n happenings....www.organicannadata.org

Awakin to Abundance -Capacity building program on Sustainable livelihood for existing and upcoming youth...

Dt. 21st n 22nd Apr. 2018  Sat. & Sun.

Reporting on 20th evening or 21st morning 9am. 

Will get over on 22nd Apr. 2018, Sun.even. 5.30pm

Venue -  Gram Gaurav Pratishtan

Pani Panchayat, Shetkari Prashikshan Kendra, Gotemal Road, Khalad, Taluka Purandar, Pune 412 30.

Visit the website for more details of the venue http://Panipanchayat.org

One day or one session is also allowed to attend. 

For serious participants preparation support will be done thr coordinators. For understanding strengths and to choose opportunities. 

Facilitators are Arun Wakhlu CEO Pragati Leadership, Shitole Kaka Activist n Trustee of Gram Gaurav Pratishtan, Sadanand Pendse : Activist for Gramoday, in Dapoli, Dr. Sonali Shinde: Ayurvedic n Panchakarma expert

Ref. Www.organicannadata.org

Kindly RSVP or inform Samadhi 9921008078

WORKSHOP ON RAINWATER HARVESTING & SOIL CONSERVATION

at Vanvadi on April 14-15, by Vasantbhau Futane and Bharat Mansata.

The workshop will address the severe twin problems of water scarcity (with plunging groundwater levels), and massive soil erosion and degradation, both arising from poor land care and destruction of nature. Even high rainfall regions like the Konkan Western Ghats now face severe water shortage, as community open wells dry up earlier each year, especially in upland adivasi villages.

The workshop will be bilingual, in Marathi and English, for the benefit of villager-farmers, and interested urban folk. Vasantbhau and Bharat will provide an overall introduction to rainwater harvesting and soil conservation. Vasantbhau will also provide practical training on how to mark out contour lines and make contour bunds/trenches, as suitable. About 2 hours of discussion will focus on specific local problems and needs.

The workshop will start at 10 am on Saturday, April 14, and end by 4 pm on Sunday, April 15. The outdoor practical sessions, which will explain theory too, will be from 4 pm to 6.30 pm on Saturday, and 8 am to 10.30 am on Sunday. The rest of the workshop will be indoors, in the shade.

Those desiring more hands-on practice in marking contour lines and making contour bunds/trenches – on Sunday evening and Monday morning – are welcome to stay over at Vanvadi till Monday noon. (Participants are requested to bring light clothing, bed-sheet, and a torch. Something to protect your head from the sun would also be helpful.)

A voluntary contribution of Rs 2,400 per urban participant is requested to cover all costs of training, food, and shared (dormitory-style) accommodation. For local villagers/farmers, the workshop will be free. 

To register, please email bharatmansata@yahoo.com, with a copy to Vasantbhai at sapress.marathi@gmail.com. You would then be requested to deposit advance payment to confirm your registration.

NEWS: Mumbai sees first edition of Women of India Organic Festival

 Juhi Chawla Juhi Chawla at first Mumbai edition of ' Women of India Organic Festival'

Mumbai is hosting the first edition of ‘Women of India Organic Festival’ at the World Trade Centre, which was inaugurated on Friday by Juhi Chawla, Vidya Thakur, Pankaja Munde, and Madhu Shah. This festival has been organised on an annual basis in Delhi by the Ministry of Women & Child Development since 2015. In Mumbai, this is its debut appearance. Mumbai, has, in last few years, seen a rise in the number of people buying organic produce. Consequently, the city has responded well to the event.

This event, under one roof, has a comprehensive collection of organic products from across India. It is organised to support the women farmers and women entrepreneurs in the field of organic food production. During the event, the farmers travel and stay in the city free of cost, as another step to support them. Participants have travelled to Mumbai from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Delhi, NCR, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Kashmir, Telangana, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Manipur.

Farmers displayed their organic products like millets, cereal grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, sherbet, seeds, plants, flour, pickles, honey, jaggery, products for personal care and compost among others. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Union Minister for Women & Child Development, shared, “We are very happy to present Mumbai with healthy and pure organic foods. Organic foods contain far more vitamins, minerals, and nutrients than those produced with chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preservatives. For the nation too, organic farming is better as it ultimately reduces the cost of cultivation by 25-40% and increases the incomes of farmers thanks to the improved quality of production as also the quality of the soil.”

Since the produce on display are from across India, it enabled Mumbaikars to choose things from a wide variety and also introduced them to the local food like purple rice, mint masala powder, black rice, and hulga among others. A lot of the cereals and millets on sale were grown by tribal communities and the profit made by it goes directly to them, empowering them financially. The festival is going on at World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade, till the 20th.

SOURCE : http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-mumbai-sees-first-edition-of-women-of-india-organic-festival-2594718

1st Mumbai Edition of Women of India Organic festival in Mumbai inaugurated

Ministry of Women and Child Development

1st Mumbai Edition of Women of India Organic festival in Mumbai inaugurated

Will promote Women farmers & Entrepreneurs Engaged in Organic Produce from across India

Posted On: 16 MAR 2018 6:15PM by PIB Mumbai

Ist Mumbai Edition of Women of India Organic Festival 2018, organised by Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal, Maharashtra and with the support of Women & Child Development Ministry, Government of India is inaugurated in Mumbai today. This year’s theme of festival is “Good for Women; Good for India; Good for You”

Speaking in the press conference after inauguration of festival, Juhi Chawala, brand Ambassador of the Organic Women Festival 2018, said, “If we have to secure our next generation from chemical products and the various diseases like cancer, High per tension, diabetes etc., we need to adopt organic farming and organic products. Organic plants and foods are having contain higher amounts of salicylic acid which fights bowel cancer and the hardening of arteries that leads to heart conditions, strokes and other ailments”

 A five day festival is inaugurated by  Maharashtra  Minister for Women & Child Development Smt. Pankaja Munde.

Addressing to the gatherings, Ms. Chawala further said that, “the festival is intended to highlight the health & environmental advantages of organic goods, provide platform for women engaged in production process and boost the development of sustainable & easily accessible sales outlets for women producers from the remote corners of India”.

Smt. Nandita Mishra, Economic Advisor, Union Ministry of Women & Child Development said in the press conference that, under the leadership of Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Union Minister of Women & Child Development, this is the first edition after New Delhi where the Organic Festival of Women is being celebrated. This is the platform for the millions of women and farmers to know about the scientific information and clear their doubts. She further said that, her ministry has believe that, such kind of festival will give boost to the grass root women and farmers. She asked women to participate in such festivals and spread awareness about organic foods and farming information all over the world.

Answering to the question of why organic food grains like cereals, jawar, maza are more expensive than regular grains?, Smt. Juhi Chawala said, organic seeds are costly therefore; further process of production become costly but in the government organic stores, all products are available in reasonable prices. There is lack of awareness among the people about organic food grains.  Such types of Organic stores needs to be known by the common people.

Smt Vidya Thakur, Minister of State for Women & Child Development, Smt. Indra Mallo, VCMD, Mahila arthik Vikas Mandal, Smt, Daian Pande, Holistic Health Expert, Well Known and legendry Cine Actor and actresses Jackey Shroff, Tanuja, and Madhu were present to the festival from cine world.   

Backgrounder: “Women of India Festival2018” is celebrated since 2015. This is the third year, which is organised in the Mumbai by Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal, Maharashtra. Around 500 women from all over India are participating in these 5 days event from 16 th to 20th March 2018. The organic products include pulses, cereals, spices, cosmetics, oils, honey, pickles and preserves, tea, organic seeds, composters, among other bio-products are available for sale.

PIB/BG

(Release ID: 1524890) Visitor Counter : 655 

Background release reference

1st Mumbai Edition of Women of India Organic festival in Mumbai inaugurated

SOURCE : http://pib.nic.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1524890

2018 16-20 March @Mumbai - Organic Festival by GoI

https://www.facebook.com/Women-of-India-Festival-Mumbai-2018-Organic-Products-170237486643358/

Santosh Kaur of Kheti Virasat Mission, Punjab; We are selling Sweet lemon pickle, ginger garlic paste, turmeric pickle, vaadia, kasoori methi, roasted alsi and moongphali, carrot pickle, green peas pickle sattu, amla chutney, seeds, orange peel powder, methi powder. Visit our Stall No. 47

Varsha and Anant Bhoyar of Gavkus, Maharashtra; ‘We have been invited to Mumbai for an exhibition "Women of India". Mumbai friends please encourage the growers and consumers by visiting exhibition. Our stall no. is 12’

Women Farmers Collective from Gujarat; ‘Visit and buy from us at Stall No. 13, 45, 65, 66.’

2018 6-8 April BEEJOTSAV-BIODIVERSITY @ NAGPUR

Dear friends,

We are happy to invite you to our 6^th year of BEEJOTSAV-BIODIVERSITY at Nagpur from 6^th to 8^th April 2018, a carnival of organic food, foodgrains, spices and the celebration of the sustainable, eco-friendly life style, visibility to seed saver and pastoral communities.

We, at BEEJOTSAV, are a varied group of organic farmers, seed savers, urban farmers and consumers who have been showcasing organic food for last 5 years.. We try to link grass roots farmers and the urban consumer.

We believe that safe, chemical-free food and healthy Biodiversity is the right of every citizen and our movement is a step towards making it available to the consumer.

We invite you to attend it and you can even exhibit your products by taking a stall. 

Festival date: 6^th, 7^th & 8^th April 2018

Time: 10 am to 10 pm

Venue: Mure Memorial Lawns, Amravati Road, Near Variety Square, Nagpur.

Stall size: 8’ X 8’

Stall charges: Rs 2,500/- (for 3 days, doesn’t include food and accommodation charges)

To book your stall(s) please fill up the form here:- https://goo.gl/forms/S5OuIXIbWXHyKHkn1

To register yourself please fill up the form here :- https://goo.gl/forms/khGSyomWRPoq7YZR2

For Stalls:- After filling up the form, please wait for confirmation from our team. After confirmation please go ahead with payment, you can take the account details from any of the following coordinator.

Beejotsav Coordinators:-

Akash Naoghare 9766912745 anaoghare@gmail.com

Sajal Kulkarni  9881479239  sajalskulkarni@gmail.com 

Ashwini Aurangabadkar 9890515814 ashwini.aurangabadkar@gmail.com

ARTICLE : Sowing hope: How some women have given organic farming a fillip by collecting seeds of long-forgotten vegetable varieties

Maneka Gandhi Mar 05, 2018 17:32:18 IST

Organic farming for me is as important as animal welfare. Both save thousands of species and make the world a better place for humans. When I became Minister for Women and Children, the ministry started a new project of holding an annual Mela in Delhi Haat, for 15 days, in which 300 women organic farmers are called from all over India to sell their produce. This year,  products worth Rs 2 crore worth were sold and the ministry sent 50 women to a huge organic mela in Ahmedabad organised by Srishthi and now we are preparing for one in Mumbai in February.

I also make sure that one or more women organic farmers, or groups, get the highest award for women in India, the Nari Shakti award. In 2016, the best exhibition I went to was one of wandering pastoral tribes in India and the NGOs that conserve their cultural forms, camels and their milk. The best exhibition I went to this year was a huge organic one in Noida which had more than 700 companies, institutions, NGOs and individuals taking part. It was organised by OFAI which is headquartered in Goa and headed by Dr Claude Alvares. I bought a beautiful pair of earrings for my sister made of red ratti (used to weigh gold at one point) and white Vaijayanti seeds made by a farmer’s wife.

Representational image. Reuters

The Sikkim pavilion was the most impressive and the chief minister of Sikkim should get a Bharat Ratna for the work he has done to make the whole state organic. There were hundreds of varieties of rice, including one that you don’t have to boil, just simply pour hot water on. I saw vegetables that I have never seen before: huge long, white, aubergines (baingan), every variety of kaddu, cucumber and chilli. I saw red potatoes and at least 50 varieties of rajma ranging from white to purple. When I ate the lunch thali of village vegetables, I thought I’d died and gone to Food Heaven!

I would like you to know these women who have changed thousands of lives by simply collecting old seeds of long-forgotten vegetable varieties.

The Vanastree Malnad Garden and Seed Savers Collective in Sirsi, Karnataka is run by women. They have documented 120 varieties of vegetables, from the tiny sparrow ladies fingers (bhindi) to old varieties of sugarcane. All these are heritage seeds. You can get in touch with them at sunitasirsi@gmail.com.

Annadana is a Karnataka NGO started by Sangita Sharma. For the last few years, it has been practising and teaching sustainable farm practices and conserving over 200 old vegetable seeds. Sharma had realised that seed corporations and agricultural institutes were blasting seeds with toxins, chemicals and pesticides, contaminating all the food so she decided to start collecting, growing and distributing seeds to farmers. So far, she has distributed 3 lakh free seed packets to marginal farmers and is selling them at a low cost to garden enthusiasts. She has a training programme, called Seed to Seed, on soil health management. Sharma's core group now comprises 18 farmers who teach and they can be contacted at info@annadana-india.org

Niranjana Maru is from Wardha and has formed an NGO called Chetana Vikas. They have a demonstration farm of trees, grasses, tubers and fodder and concentrate on wasteland regeneration through teaching a mixed cropping system to local farmers. You can write to her at chetanavikaswda@gmail.com

Sabarmati Tiki is the daughter of Prof Radhamohan who bought degraded land in Nayagarh and, despite people calling his mission impossible, decided to regenerate it. He named the farm “sambhav” or “possible”. Sabarmati and her team grow 314 traditional rice varieties at the farm and distribute the seeds to farmers in Odisha. She can be contacted at sabarmati@gmail.com

Pebble Garden is a land regeneration project started by Deepika Kundaji on seven acres of laterite soil which was severely eroded with no topsoil. She and her partner set out to bring the old forest back, created water bodies, built up the soil by putting organic mulch and neighbourhood kitchen waste. Today, the land grows 80 varieties of vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants, many of which are endangered and never seen in markets. The seeds of these plants are shared with other farmers and seed savers. Contact her at pebblegardenforest@gmail.com

Mohinee Bhiste comes from Raigarh, Nainital and is part of a network of women farmers called Jan Prerna Sangathan. In 2009, she and her friends started exploring traditional seeds. They have made a bank of seeds of local wheat, millet, maize, barley and vegetables, where farmers can take freely provided they return double the quantity after the harvest. You can contact them at 09568254945.

And who can forget the contribution of Dr Vandana Shiva, who has been writing and working for non-violent farming and biodiversity since 1984? She has been actively involved in conserving 5,000 crop varieties, among them 3,000 kinds of rice, 150 kinds of wheat, 150 kinds of rajma and the rest vegetables and pulses. They have their own seed bank of 45 acres in Sherpur, Uttarakhand. I buy a lot of my monthly rations from Navdanya. You can contact her at dehradun@navdanya.net

This year for Diwali, I didn’t give useless mithai/statues / Ganeshes / dates or badams as gifts. I filled baskets of organic grains, pulses, jams, pickles, brought from small organic farmers from all over India, and gave these. Needless to say, each recipient was more than happy. After all, each one of us likes to eat well and the taste of organic wild rice, for instance, is incredible! We also like to feel safe, that our food is not giving us cancer. And we can only do that if we go forward to insisting on nonchemical, non-poisonous food. If you know any farmers, try to make them switch. As starter gifts, you can buy seeds from these women and give them to farmers.

Two Hindi proverbs say: kathiya gehu kargi dhan, jo bove vah chatur kisan. Farmers who grow Kathiya wheat and Kargi rice (both organic old varieties) are clever (because both can grow in dry and rainfed conditions. Kodau kare bhale mein chote, chote bade bhartev pet: Kodo, a millet, may be small in size but it feeds everyone from children to the elderly under adverse conditions.

Shamika Mone has written a source book on India’s organic seeds. You should definitely buy it from OFAI, Mapusa, goamyofai@gmail.com

To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in, www.peopleforanimalsindia.org

Published Date: Mar 05, 2018 17:29 PM | Updated Date: Mar 05, 2018 17:32 PM

SOURCE : https://www.firstpost.com/india/sowing-hope-how-some-women-have-given-organic-farming-a-fillip-by-collecting-seeds-of-long-forgotten-vegetable-varieties-4377263.html

NEWS: FARMING THE ORGANIC WAY WITH JUHI CHAWLA

By Natasha Coutinho, Mumbai Mirror | Updated: Feb 20, 2018, 04.03 AM IST

The actress who often takes off to her two farms, will be the face of a women’s organic festival coming to the city for the first time.

Actress and environmentalist Juhi Chawla has now been announced as the brand ambassador by the Government of India for a women empowerment project. The actress will be the face of Women’s Organic Festival of India. Juhi who owns two farms on the outskirts of Mumbai, says she couldn’t be happier to take on this new role.

Confirming the news she told Mirror, “The idea is to create awareness about this organic festival happening in Mumbai for the first time. I’m taking my duties further and using my friendships and contacts to invite people who are interested in organic farming. We have organic produce coming from all over India, from as far as Leh-Ladakh and Kanyakumari, from Kohima and Kutch. The aim is to whip up nostalgia for the small markets of the ’70 and ’80s.”

A proud farmer herself, Juhi loves working in her field whenever she finds the time. “Twenty years ago, when my father was close to retirement, he bought land in Wada, outside Mumbai, on the banks of the Vaitarna river. He would travel there often to develop his farm. I barely visited then, being busy with my films and shoots. But when he passed away ten years ago, it became my responsibility to look after the land,” she reminisces.

Initially she knew nothing about farming but has developed a passion for it over the years, “During my father’s time we had a lot of trees which died due to neglect. But now we once again have as many as 200 mango, banana, and papaya trees. We have started farming pomegranates and pears, along with other kinds of fruits, vegetables and even rice. It is delightful to leave the city and enjoy the farm in all its glory,” she beams.

Juhi bought another farm eight-10 years ago, 15 minutes from the Mandwa jetty, at the foot of the hills. “We have two wells and several mango and papaya trees there. We also cultivate rice. Jay (Husband Jay Mehta) recently decided that he would like to grow vegetables for his restaurant there. He has now got an organic horticulturist on board and we are learning how to grow fruits and veggies in a better way.”

SOURCE : https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/farming-the-organic-way-with-juhi-chawla/articleshow/62990045.cms

This Seed Keeper Preserves Over 500 Rare Varieties. Here’s How You Can Become One Too!

In a world where the hybrid seed has become a norm, it is important for seed keepers to continue to ensure that varieties of indigenous plants and vegetables are available for posterity!

by Prabhakar RaoJanuary 31, 2018, 5:31 pm

In today’s world, if one had to make a shopping list for buying vegetables, you would say –

Beans – half a kilo
Cucumber – half a kilo
Carrots – one kilo
Capsicum – quarter kilo and so on.

This is because there usually is just one variety of any vegetable available in the market. It is indeed an exception to find, say, three colours of capsicum or two kinds of beans.

But if you went to the market 100 years ago, you might have seen hundreds of varieties of cabbage, peas, tomatoes, pumpkins and sweet-corn to choose from!

Brown and Violet Peppers

The July edition of 2011, National Geographic magazine carried this info-graphic that succinctly captures the gravity of the situation.

In 1983 the Rural Advancement Foundation International conducted a study on the kind of biodiversity that existed in 1903. What you can see from the slide is, that in just 80 years, we had lost 93% of all the vegetable varieties that existed.

That was in 1983. If we did the same study today, we would find that we have lost 99% of the biodiversity amongst vegetables.

For thousands of years, dedicated farmers and seed keepers created and preserved tens of thousands of varieties of vegetables. In just 100 years we have lost nearly all of them.

What has changed in the past 100 years? Till just a century ago, passionate farmers selected the best plants in the fields to create seed for the next season. There was never a business model in the multiplication of seeds. If the Seed Keeper shared just a seed with a farmer, that farmer could make any number of seeds from it, and grow the same vegetable season after season. In effect, every farmer was a Seed Keeper who preserved seeds for posterity.

Somewhere after the Green Revolution of the 60s, it was felt seed production could be a profitable business model. But to sustain this business model, it required farmers return to the seed company every season to buy new seed.

Selling indigenous seed that belonged to the Seed Keepers could never be a sustainable business model because farmers could buy it once and then multiply it themselves at the end of the season.

Pink Corn

To ensure that a sustainable business model was established in the seed industry, companies started to make seeds from which the farmer could not make seed for the next season. That started the era of the hybrid and GMO seeds. Today almost all the seeds sold by seed companies to vegetable farmers are hybrid or GMO.

In the past 50 years, farmers have lost the tradition of saving seeds almost completely. It is the norm today for farmers to buy seed every season for growing vegetables.

I remember the late 70s when I was completing my doctoral studies in agriculture. I belonged to the lineage of Dr M.S. Swaminathan and Dr Norman Borloug, who created the Green Revolution. It was my generation of agricultural scientists who promoted industrial agriculture. We were the ones who persuaded farmers to adopt chemical farming. We were the ones who told farmers do put urea and D.A.P.

We were the ones who told farmers to use hybrid seeds. We needed to create national food security and to give due credit I do believe that our generation of scientists achieved that.

Dr. Rao explaining seed varieties

But somewhere deep inside there was a small voice within me that kept asking me if we were doing the right thing. That small voice kept asking me if this was a sustainable model for agriculture even after I left the field to pursue a career in landscape architecture.

During the course of my career, I had many opportunities to travel to the remotest parts of the planet. One of the things that I particularly enjoyed doing on these trips, was to spend time with the older generation of farmers. I used to discuss with them about the kind of vegetables they grew during their times, and how times have changed.

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Surprisingly, many of these farmers actually retained a few seeds of the ancient indigenous native vegetable varieties with them. Understanding my passion to preserve these ancient varieties, they shared with me a few of their seeds.

And so, for 25 years, I collected indigenous seeds from many parts of India and far-flung corners of the Earth. As a part of the Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit organization based in the US, I shared these seeds with many other Seed Keepers across the world.

When I returned to India in 2011, I decided to become a full-time Seed Keeper. I collected nearly 540 varieties of indigenous native vegetable seeds that were on the brink of extinction.

Participants harvesting exotic vegetables and fruits

At Hariyalee Seeds farms, just on the outskirts of Bengaluru, I started testing these varieties for genetic stability and environmental suitability.

At Hariyalee Seeds, you will find, 19 varieties of 23 tomatoes, 24 varieties of capsicum and chillies, six varieties of brinjals, five types of Okras, 11 varieties of Basils, 15 varieties of edible lettuces and mustards and many more wonderful vegetables that you and I need to protect for posterity.

Over the past six years, I managed to successfully multiply about 142 varieties of indigenous vegetables that anyone can grow in India.

Over the past two years, all these vegetable varieties have been made available to friends, farmers, and urban gardeners. Hundreds of people have enjoyed the experience of growing these vegetables with their own hands. Many farmers have used these exotic indigenous vegetables to generate a high-income revenue stream.

In fact, there was one farmer who grew a variety of cherry tomato with multiple colour variations that looked like candy. He was able to sell this variety at Rs.300 per kilo.

In a world where a farmer is happy to get Rs.20 per kilo for tomato in the best of times, selling tomatoes at Rs.300 a kilo sounds like a dream too good to be true.

Another advantage of growing indigenous vegetable seeds is that they are incredibly hardy and easy to grow. This is because native vegetable seeds have been selected by nature over thousands of years and had learnt to survive under the harshest of conditions.

While growing these exotic indigenous seeds can be an enjoyable pastime for home gardeners, they are at the same time making an extraordinary contribution to the genetic biodiversity of vegetables on this planet.

It doesn’t matter if the vegetable is growing in a pot on your balcony, in your kitchen garden, or in a farmers’ field in some remote part of India. The fact is that we are giving a chance for that vegetable variety to remain with us for posterity.

We are in effect, becoming modern-day Seed Keepers.

I am sure that in each one of you, at this very moment, there is this desire, to be a part of this movement to preserve these ancient indigenous seeds for posterity. Let’s all join hands to revive the Golden Age of The Seed Keepers!