Beej Yatra for distribution of traditional seeds in Baiga villages of Dindori District, Madhya Pradesh

Hiralal Gond

In the Baiga villages of Dindori District, Madhya Pradesh Nirman (Using Diversity Network partner oganisation) has been promoting the revival of a diverse variety of traditional seeds alongside the revival and strengthening of Bewar the traditional shifting cultivation based practice of the Baiga people. These efforts are being carried out for over 6 years and in the process two Community Seed Banks have been established in the villages of Gaura and Silpidi with Community Seed Bank Committees comprising of 15 members for each seed bank, responsible for the upkeep and management of these seed banks.

With the commencement of the Agriculture season in June every year the Community Seed Bank committees supported by other villagers launch a Beej Yatra or Seed Distribution drive through which they travel to several villages to distribute a variety of traditional seeds to Baiga farmers to cultivate in their Bewar plots and other lands. This is promoting the revival of both Bewar and seed diversity in the region. The seeds distributed comprised of a variety of millets and pulses like Pearl Millet, Foxtail Millet, Sorghum, Finger Millet, Barnyard Millet, Little Millet, Kodo millet and Baiga Rahar (a variety of Pigeon pea). The Gaura Community Seed Bank Committee (CSBC) commenced the Beej Yatra in their village distributing seeds to 16 households.

The CSBC of Silpidi village took the responsibility of distributing seeds to the villages of the adjoining Karanjia Block. While the revival of seed diversity and Bewar has been in progress for several in Bajak and Samnapur Block where Gaura and Silpidi CSBs are located, such efforts are relatively new in the Baiga villages of Karanjia block. This is only the second year of distribution of traditional seeds to farmers of Karanjia block. The crop diversity had declined significantly in Karanjia block and farmers were only cultivating Kodo (Kodo millet) and Kutki (Little Millet). Moreover other traditional seeds had completely disappeared from Karanjia block and farmers were unbale to access these seed for cultivation in their lands. Building on initial efforts to revive the cultivation of traditional crops in the villages of Karanjia block in 2021 the CSBC of Silpidi distributed seeds to farmers of Karanjia block from the 9^th to the 12^th of June 2022.

Details of households reached out to are as follows:

• 9^th June 2022 – 12 farmer households of Harshakti village
• 10^th June – 22 farmer households of Limha Dadar village and 17 farmer households of Pandpur village.
• 11^th June 2022 – 15 farmer households of Peeparwani village
• 12^th June 2022 – 36 farmer households of Thadhpatra village