By Ashakumari and Ramachandran K G
A community seed bank was set up at Malangi Grama Panchayath, Near Periya Patna, Mysore District by the Jenukuruba farmers group called as Kanana krishika Mahileyara Sangha (KKMS) on 11th December 2018 with the support of Sahaja Samrudha. The seed bank would be operating from the building donated by the Gramapanchayath and it would be run by the Group (KKMS).
The bank of seeds contain both local and desi seed varieties and there are more than 100 varieties of seeds displayed in the bank. Different seed varieties like rice (13 varieties), Ragi (17 varieties), other millets (9 varieties), foxtail millets (3 varieties), Vegetable seeds (50 varieties) and some of wild medicinal plant seeds (10 varieties) are kept in the seed bank. These seeds will be made available to farmers based on their demands.
The target of Kanana Krishika Mahileyara Sangha is to extend the farming up to an extent of 100 acres in this belt and they started distributing seeds to farmers in order to achieve this goal. They also have a plan to increase the numbers of farmers depending on the community seed bank in the coming years.
