Nagani, is a small Himalayan village in the Tehri Garhwal region. A group of farmers, mostly women from the neighbouring villages, has gathered in the fields along the river Henval. A banner announces the Baranaja meeting organised by Save the Seeds Movement that has brought all these people together. But who are these people? What is Baranaja? Why save seeds? How to save seeds?

This meeting in the village where terrace-farming is practised, raises a number of questions. The presence of the youth is an encouraging sign since most of them leave villages in search of employment. But those who have stayed back are firm supporters of this movement. Christened as ‘Save the Seeds’, this movement was initiated by some committed farmers, who have an exposure to the outside world and who are in the know of various changes in the agricultural sector. Their aim is to warn their fellow farmers about the dangers caused by multinational seed companies. Save the Seeds Movement has great importance in the Himalayan region given the diversity of crops, of the flora and fauna here. Threatened by the race for development, this diversity is slowly diminishing; hybrid and genetically modified seeds, chemical fertilisers and pesticides are gradually destroying traditional farming practices.

Save the Seeds Movement’s mission is to inform farmers on traditional ways of preserving seeds and to encourage them to share the seeds. We firmly believe that the farmer must have the right to reuse his seeds and in-situ conservation must be favoured. We see science as a partner and not as a master.

In Tehri Garhwal, the village communities have their own ‘scientific’ knowledge. In the traditional system of Baranaja, twelve crops are grown simultaneously in the same field. A combination of cereals, lentils, vegetables, creepers, root vegetables are grown in this system of biofarming which helps maintain ecological balance and enables the farmer to get some benefit from certain varieties even in case of damage to some crops. This way, the loss is never total. Apart from informing farmers about the importance of biofarming, we are also trying to sensitise them about natural means of obtaining better yields.

Dhoomsingh Negi (Save the Seeds, India)
[Beej Bachao Andolan, Village Kalindi (Pipleth),
P.O. Jajal, Dist. Tehri Garhwal, 249.147 U.P. India]

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