Rohan Mukerjee
On the 26th of June 2024 accompanied by Jagabandhu Sanda (Consultant) and Baby Patar (Community Resource Person) I visited the village Roam located in Musabani Block, East Singhbhum District, Jharkhand. Roam in Murgaghutu Panchayat is made up of 7 hamlets with 339 households of the Santal, Ho, Bhumij and Kurmi communities. We first visited the home of Hatan Hansda in Upar Roam the principal hamlet of Roam. Hatan Hansda has donated one of his rooms for the establishment of a Community Seed Bank (CSB). We had a discussion about the genesis and working of the CSB with some of its members. The CSB was set up in January 2024 with a CSB committee comprising of 10 men and 4 women responsible for its management. The objective of the CSB to promote revival of local and traditional seed varieties and natural farming practices like Multilayer farming and Kitchen / Nutrition gardens.
The CSB currently had 5 traditional paddy varieties – Bali Bhojna, Gede Malti, Sajom Baha, Malti and Maghi; Maize, Sorghum, and Finger Millet. Vegetable seeds included Bhindi / Okra, Karela / Bitter Gourd and Khera / Cucumber. The seeds were sourced from farmers of Patkita and Roam who had cultivated these crops last year from seeds provided through the previous phase of the Eastern India project. The objective was to ensure that these seeds are made available to more and more farmers to ensure their spread and revival. These traditional seeds are climate and pest resilient and they make valuable contributions to health and nutritional security of the families who cultivate them. Since the formation of the seed bank the CSB has had 4 meetings where they discussed management of the seed bank, facilitating seed exchange between farmers, distribution of seeds to farmers and how to facilitate return of seeds to ensure increase in seed stocks which will enable them to reach more and more farmers. They also discussed promoting natural farming practices like mixed cropping Kitchen gardens and multilayer farming.
After the meeting we visited the homestead plots of Kajal Mardi where she was carrying out mixed cropping and multilayer farming. Multilayer farming is a type of polyculture that involves growing multiple crops in a single area which is used to optimize the use of land and improve the quality of the soil. This practice allows cultivate a variety of crops on small plots in a manner which helps promote resilience in the face of pest attacks and climate variability. These practices don’t involve use of any harmful chemical inputs and in fact help improve soil health with crops like legumes serving as natural mulch. Kajal is one of three women who had set up commenced Multilayer farming in 2023 after receiving training and seed support through the project. Since Kajal, a teacher, was at school her relative Parmila Mardi showed us around. It was heartening to see that despite it being the dry season when most homestead plots are barren Kajal’s homestead was green and alive with a variety of crops cultivated in different small plots.
Root and understorey crops included Turmeric, and Aalti (Taro), Pui Saag / Malabar Spinach. Above this was Brinjal, Bhindi and Chilli crops.
She had made a bamboo structure – Macha for middle story creeper crops which included Kundri / Ivy Gourd, Lauki / Bottle Gourd, Nenua / Sponge gourd, Jhinga / Ridge gourd, and Karela / Bitter Gourd. Along with these crops Kaja also had many trees which included Papaya, Banana, Jackfruit, Drumstick, Mango and Mahua.
There was even Bamboo along the borders of her plot. These Multilayer mixed cropping homestead mostly depend on waste water from washing utensils and excess water from community water taps and hand pumps. They are helping provide a varied and nutritious diet while also providing additional income from the sale of surplus produce. Motivated by Kajal and the other 2 women 15-20 women have committed to undertake multilayer farming this year.
