There is a five-acre piece of land in the Ungarada village of Andhra Pradesh that is a microcosm of produce, exotic and local — sugarcane, paddy, and mango orchards coexist here; and ensuring that each of them thrive to their full potential is a corporate professional turned farmer, Darlapudi Ravi. The 54-year-old recalls 2015 as the year he had his moment of catharsis.
“I was working as an assistant general manager in the cement industry, where I witnessed heavy pollution and dust in and around factory premises.” Where does the grime settle? he wondered.
He didn’t have to look very far for the answer. It lay in the news reports — filled with instances of pesticide poisoning, the discovery of new cancer variants and emerging health epidemics.
“I realised that diabetes, indigestion, and abdominal pains that many of my friends and relatives were experiencing were because of the unhealthy food they were eating,” he recalls. This, he deduced, was not limited to junk.
Take white polished rice, for instance. Darlapudi observed how often, what is sold by markets under the garb of being ‘carbohydrate-rich’, is pure starch with a high glycemic index.
Modern foods bring allure but do they bring substance?
This ambivalence led Darlapudi to quit his job and turn to greener pastures, both literally and metaphorically. Today, the patch of land in his home in Andhra Pradesh is where the farmer ensures the food practices of the past get a vibrant future. Darlapudi beams with pride as he shares that the germplasm bank he has nurtured is now home to over 3,600 varieties of indigenous seeds.
Safeguarding food diversity
Did you know certain varieties of bean, rice, corn and pumpkin produce seeds that when stored in apt conditions, remain viable even centuries later?
Darlapudi is cultivating a mini-revolution in his backyard. He is amused at how divergent the food habits of the past are when juxtaposed against their modern equivalents. “In my grandparents’ days, backyard kitchens and home gardens were used to grow vegetables. Today, their purpose is aesthetic.”
As Darlapudi dove into this newfound passion — “not new-found,” he argues, “it was always encouraged in my family” — he felt the need for knowledge to back his pursuits. He registered for a training course in natural farming methods. The next two years were spent understanding the carbon content of the soil and its role in helping plants grow.
But aside from teaching him the nuances of green farming practices, the course also fuelled his interest in the ethnoscience of seeds. He ventured into the jungles of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, to collect sample seed varieties grown by the tribal communities in the region. These held a special draw.
“These days, chemical fertilisers and pesticides are used in agriculture. As a result, the seeds get diversified,” he explains. But in these tribal areas, he found the seeds to be untouched by chemicals. From a passion trip, this spiralled into a project that has now been running for almost a decade.
That’s not all, he shares. “I have also followed intercropping on my land; I have horticulture crops, intercrops, green vegetables, and leafy vegetables. I have also introduced micro irrigation and drip irrigation to create awareness about saving water.”
Darlapudi is something of a hero in his village. He has forged a trail in seed preservation. Acknowledging his expertise, 35 farmers from the neighbouring villages flock to the farmer’s home to get a glimpse and insights into the seed bank.
These sessions aren’t all work and no play.
Cookies, millet biscuits, upma (porridge made from dry-roasted semolina), idlis (savoury rice cake), raggi laddu (a sweet made with finger millet) and pineapple candies are passed around the group. These value-added products, Darlapudi explains, are sold under the brand ‘Bhaskara’. But the question that most farmers insist on having answered while munching on the healthy snacks, is how the seed preservation is accomplished.
Cataloguing India’s food past through a seed bank
Challenges of climate change and habitat destruction reduce genetic diversity. This problem is compounded by modern agriculture’s reliance on monocultures and high-yield varieties.
According to data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), more than one in three tree species worldwide faces extinction. This genetic erosion is wiping out seed varieties at a rapid pace. And seed banks are a potential antidote to this problem, preserving a wide array of plant genetics, and providing a resource for reintroducing species.
As Darlapudi breaks down the nuances of seed preservation to his audience of enthusiastic farmers, the process promises intrigue.
But before we dive into that, let’s understand why the practice is crucial.
With the green revolution came the devaluation of traditional and native seeds. As genetic modification gained popularity, the genetically improved traits made it tough for the seeds to survive in adverse climatic regions.
“These seeds give quantity but not quality,” Darlapudi says. “Instead, the desi (local varieties) have two important qualities — they can sustain natural calamities and give a good aroma.”
This, he says, sets them apart from hybridised varieties. The first step of seed preservation is seed collection. “I chose tribal areas that do not get much water, aside from a few hours of rainfall. This creates drought-resistant seeds. I collected seeds from the Pottangi area in Odisha, the Dantewada area in Chhattisgarh, Seethampeta in Andhra Pradesh and Velur in Kerala. These include seeds of medicinal value and paddy varieties.”
Following the collection, Darlapudi uses a varied array of preservation methods. These range from potting the seed in mud or a bamboo container or applying soil to the seed and keeping it in the shade. But one of his favourite methods is coating the seed with ash. “Some varieties like pumpkin or creepers come with slurry inside. Ash from burning dried cow dung is applied to the seeds and they are kept in bamboo containers or mud pots. This ash acts as a layer of protection for the seeds,” he shares. The seeds remain viable even after three years.
The seed bank boasts over 40 varieties of rice, exotic vegetables such as red okra (lady’s finger), black brinjal, pink beans, kashi tomato, red amaranthus, and aromatics like musk turmeric, arcka (natural weedicide), black basil and fragrant tulsi. And Darlapudi ensures he uses natural farming techniques to preserve the seeds.
“If we follow natural farming techniques while preserving desi seeds then automatically the seed germination value, and preservation and techniques of germination, will last longer and plants from these seeds will sustain through natural calamities,” he shares.
To date, he has trained over 300 farmers in seed preservation techniques. But, the legacy of seed preservation in his region shouldn’t stop with him, he insists. It needs to be an ongoing revolution.
Edited by Arunava Banerjee
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