Indian seeds

Seed Satyagraha, organised by Grow Your Own Veggies and Sahaja Seeds, and everyone is celebrating the cause of the native seed. 

“It’s all about open pollination. Native seeds or heirloom seeds, as they’re also known, are those that have evolved organically over generations and are used to our soil and climate conditions. With genetically-modified seeds being marketed as products, indigenous species are vanishing and we are fighting to preserve them. We’re working to popularise food produce from these seeds,” says Alladi Mahadevan of Grow Your Own Veggies and Green Embryo, adding, “These events bring farmers and consumers together, so one gets the opportunity to engage with the farmer and know where exactly one’s food is coming from.”

 Tamil Nadu has about 150 types of brinjal native to it. Only 18 to 20 of these varieties are still grown. Other vegetables and fruits that grow well here are greens such as coriander, mint, amaranthus, agathi keerai and siru keerai, gourds such as bitter gourd, ridge gourd, snake gourd and ash gourd, and beans such as cluster beans and lablab (avarai), besides bananas and papaya.

Vandana Shiva, scientist and founder of Navdanya, preserving native seeds is the only reliable way to move forward.