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Environment
The Seeds of Change
by Ruchika Negi
November 6, 2005
"Jote
Boye Jo Zameen
Beej Usi ke Rahe Adheen
Evam Mitti Paani Beej Aur Pedh
Band Karo Tum Unse Chhedh"
(He who
tills and cultivates the land
The seeds belong to him alone
The earth, water, seeds and trees
Stop messing with these resources)
 This slogan
of the Beej Bachao Andolan (BBA; Save the Seeds Movement), which
originated in the Heval valley of Tehri Garhwal, spread like fire among
the farming communities of Uttaranchal in the late 1980s.
The early
1970s had seen prominent Sarvodaya thinkers and environmentalists
- Sunder Lal Bahuguna, Pratap Shikhar, Dhum Singh Negi, Kunwar Prasoon
and
Vijay Jaddhari, among others - start a movement against the ruthless
felling of trees by timber merchants and contractors in the Heval
valley. This movement - now known in history as the Chipko Movement
- saw men, women and children uniting against these outside forces. It
was in the spirit and momentum of Chipko that the BBA emerged.
Once again,
the people are united against the inorganic chemical farming practices
that the government and scientific farming institutes were propagating
strongly. There had been a move away from sustainable, traditional
cultivation practices. Vijay Jaddhari, a stalwart of this movement,
says, "After Chipko, farmers realized that they should fight for their
farming rights as well. Why should they have to buy seeds, manure and
fertilizers, when for ages they have been using their traditional
knowledge to tend and preserve their seeds, land, water and forests?"
"We had many
traditional varieties of rice and wheat in our hills earlier.
Rikhwa, Ghyasu, Chawaria, Jiri are all old rice varieties that are
easy to grow, suit our farming and animal rearing techniques, and are
delicious. But now the new variety of dwarfed rice has taken over.
Instead of growing the traditional crops, like jhingura and
mandua, people have started growing soyabean and tomatoes," says
Jaddhari. Growing cash crops kills the sustainable mountain farming that
has been practiced in the region for generations. "These crops are only
good for the market," he says. He explains that agriculture institutes
encourage the heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In the
long run, this ruins soil quality and fertility.
However, for
the BBA, it was a difficult journey. Inorganic fertilizers initially
produced high crop yields, which seemed almost like a windfall to many
farmers. The cultivation of cash crops also seemed economically
lucrative. In these times, with the men looking to the 'markets', it was
in the women that the BBA found its staunchest supporters.
Says Kamla Devi, a woman farmer from Nagini village, "In our hills,
traditionally, men only set the plough and till the land. These roles
are physically too strenuous for a woman, I guess. Most of our men have
migrated to the cities to seek employment in any case. So, in that
sense, farming is a woman's domain. But the use of new techniques
threatens to take way the woman's prerogative. Our mobility is limited;
we cannot go to towns and cities to buy seeds and fertilizers. Nor do we
know the economic aspect of such farming. Our role in traditional
farming is usurped by these new methods; it alienates us from our land
and our livelihood."
BBA collaborated with women's Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the villages to
set up seed banks of traditional crop varieties in order to preserve
them from extinction. Kunwar Prasoon, one of the chief proponents of the
movement, reflects, "The cash crops, fertilizers, chemical manure - the
use of all these are based on the paradigm of 'bikao kheti'
(farming for monetary benefit alone), whereas our own farming practices
encourage 'tikao kheti' (sustainable farming). Women in the hills
work in close unison with their natural resources. They fetch fodder
from the forests, get water from the natural sources, work on farms etc.
They tend nature like their own child. The men, on the other hand, are
more mercenary in their approach. They want immediate gains; women are
more foresighted in that sense."
In the Chipko movement as well, it was the women who hugged trees and
faced the axes of the contractors. In BBA, it was the women who nursed
the saplings, distributed them among other women members and fought with
their men to preserve older techniques.
In order to encourage the time-honored farming practices - such as
dryland mixed cropping systems (Barahnaja or twelve grain
system) - against the newer monoculture techniques and to preserve dying
traditional crop varieties, BBA members undertook a padyatra (a
march). They travelled the length and breadth of Uttaranchal - from
Askot in Uttarkashi (Garhwal) to Aarakot near the Pithoragarh border (in
Kumaon).
Dulari Devi, a woman farmer from Koti village, says, "It is wrong to say
that our traditional crops are economically unviable. Pulses like
Gahad, Pahadi Rajma etc are sold at Rs 40 a kilo. The traditional
rice varieties grown in Nagini, Uttarkashi and Jaunsar belt are very
much in demand. What people do not understand is that our land, our
seeds, our food are an integral part of our heritage - all these
constitute our pahari (literally, of the mountains) identity. Why
should we give up who we are, and try to become someone else? I do not
wish to become a stranger to my own self, to my own culture and people."
With the support of the farmers, especially the women, the BBA has been
able to preserve around 305 indigenous varieties of rice, and 170
species of other traditional crops and pulses, like the pahari rajma,
mandua and jhingura. Now, they are trying to distribute them
locally.
Meanwhile, BBA continues to enthuse and inspire many similar people's
movements elsewhere in the world. Thoughtfully summing up the spirit and
philosophy of Beej Bachao, woman farmer Chunchura Devi, says, "In
our hills, there is a saying that a farmer may beg for food or shelter
but he will never ever beg for seeds. So why should we cripple ourselves
and depend on others now?"
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
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Environment
The Week of November 6, 2005
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Indian Governments Soft-Kneed Counter-Terrorism Approaches by Dr. Subhash
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Chanchala Lakshmi: The Restless One! by Aparna
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The Map is NOT the Territory by Vikram
Karve
Greed Makes for Strange Trading Bedfellows
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How much should we correct children’s poor
behavior? by Michael Grose
Africa: Buy a Girl for 3 Cows by Caroline
Somanje
Canada: Leaving Out the Shariah by Naunidhi
Kaur
Living in the Shadow of Violence by Linda
Chhakchhuak
'Food Passports" for Migrants by Aparna Pallavi
The Seeds of Change by Ruchika Negi
Master Mahashai by Kumud Biswas
Vande Mataram! by Anamika Banerjee
Oriya Press: Then and Now by Alipta Jena
Universal Phonetic Roman Script by Swachid
K. Rangan
Therapeutic uses of Honey in Ayurveda by Dr.
Krishna R.S.
In Our Own Hands
by Stephanie Hiller
Trouble with Purity Pill by Aparna Pallavi
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