Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

http://countercurrents.org/harsh110807.htm
Magic Seeds
By Harsh Dobhal
11 July, 2007

While the government is trying its best to make us believe that the  
patent regime will begin another boom in agricultural, a solid mass  
of protest by NGOs and civil society groups is highlighting the  
cruelty and negative impacts on farm sector and bio-diversity. In  
this backdrop, Harsh Dobhal explains, how an unassuming farmer  
inspired a movement to revive traditional agriculture practices and  
eroding biodiversity, quietly sowing the seeds of revolution.Chipko  
movement hit the headlines in the 1970s and now it is written in  
golden letters of ecological movements across the globe. For the  
world it is part of memory and nostalgia, but not for the people of  
Garhwal. They still derive lessons from it and continue to better  
their lives by adding to the prevailing ecological wisdom by the day.

Chipko lives on - thriving and pulsating, challenging and sustaining.  
The men and women who once hugged trees to save them from commercial  
felling, continue their struggle to save nature and its children,  
local diversity and culture.



"Kya hain jangal ke upkar:
pani, mitti aur bayar,
ye hain jeene ke aadhar

What do forests bear:
water, soil and air;
these are the basis for life

The slogan, that reverberated in the valleys of Garhwal Himalayas for  
the world to take notice in the 1970s, is still echoing 30 years on,  
in the Hewalghati valley of Tehri Garhwal. This time in the form of  
the Beej Bachao Andolan (Save the Seeds Movement).


After the so-called success of the green revolution, High Yielding  
Variety (HYV) seeds were being introduced all over the country and  
cash-crop driven agriculture was destroying traditional farming.

Crop yields of the HYV started becoming less in Garhwal, while soil  
fertility was declining and dependence on toxic chemicals was  
increasing. The ecosystem was also severely damaged. As a result,  
Chipko activist and a local farmer, Vijay Jardhari, and other  
activists from Jardhargaon and nearby areas of Tehri Garhwal, formed  
the Beej Bachao Abhiyan, later re-named as Beej Bachao Andolan (BBA),  
to revive traditional farming methods and rejuvenate agriculture  
diversity. The aim was to create awareness about 'modern but  
destructive' agricultural practices, search and conserve indigenous  
seeds and promote traditional and sustainable farming.

In the beginning, like others, former Chipko activists from  
Henwalghati also used high yielding seeds in the eighties. Having  
reaped bumper crops in the beginning, they soon realised that  
productivity was declining and more and more chemicals and  
fertilizers were needed to sustain the yield. "As we understood the  
problem with the HYV crops, we wondered where the traditional seeds  
had vanished? We realised that what we had achieved through Chipko,  
was going down the drain through new technologies in agriculture.  
This realisation led to the birth of BBA," says Jardhari. "It was an  
easy choice to discontinue the cultivation of chemical-dependent  
seeds, but the challenge was to convince other farmers. We had  
several meetings to explain to the people that these new agricultural  
techniques were harmful," Jardari says. "As we learnt more, we were  
shocked. I could find only two varieties of local paddy available in  
my village."

This shocking realisation was followed by long arduous treks or food  
marches to distant villages to look for local, traditional, and  
diverse seeds. To the far-flung areas where HYV seeds were yet to  
reach. The activists collected different kinds of seeds. They also  
asked people to conserve rare seeds. These yatras also became  
occasions for cultural re-assertion, reciting folk stories, re- 
thinking oral traditions, poems, songs and reviving collective wisdom.

Now BBA, a non-formal collective of farmers and activists, is spread  
all over Uttaranchal. From the villages of Jardhargaon, Nagni, Paturi  
and Rampur in Henwalghati, it has spread to other areas of  
Uttaranchal among non-ngo organisations like Adhar in Almora,  
Samudayik Chetna Kendra in Nainital and Vividhara in Nahikalan in  
Dehradun. The andolan is responsible for producing over 200 varieties  
of rajma, over 350 varieties of rice -- thapchini, jhumkiya, rikhwa,  
ramjawan, bangoi, hansraj and lal basmati -- about 30-35 varieties of  
wheat, 12 varieties of mandua (finger millet), eight varieties of  
jhangora (bharmyard millet), eight varieties of bhatt (local  
soyabeen), 12 varieties of makka (corn), five varieties of gahat  
(horsegram), eight varieties of lobia, apart from cheena (hong  
millet), kauni (foxtail millet), junyali (pearl millet), rayaance  
(adjuki bean), til (seasame), bhangir (perilla), among other local  
produce. Most of these seed varieties were going extinct very fast.

The movement has also promoted the use of traditional farming method  
called 'baranaja' whereby 12 crops are grown simultaneously in the  
same field. This unique method provides a security against drought  
and crop failure. The practice ensures supply of food round the year  
as different crops are harvested at different times.

A humble initiative like BBA, which is not a part of the multi- 
billion dollar NGO industry, has proved that even without funds and  
resources, those on the fringes of society can take on the onslaught  
of globalisation.