Kalidas Malto, UD Fellow, Littipara, Jharkhand
On the 15th of June an Exhibition on the traditional seeds of the Paharias was organised which was followed by a training program on organic agricultural methods with a focus on the making of vermi-compost. 131 men and women villagers from the 10 UD project villages of the area participated in the program. UD Kalidas Malto presented an exhibition of a variety of traditional seeds cultivated by the Paharias, a number of which have disappeared from the areas. The seeds included a number of millet and pulses like layo, gundli, kodme, muto, patge. The participants were encouraged to inspect and identify the seeds for themselves and share their knowledge of them. Most of the seeds which were no longer cultivated in the area had been sourced from other UD project areas in MP and Chhattisgarh as part of the inter community Seed Exchange program. Kalidas described the rich cultural and nutritional importance and benefits of these traditional crops and explained that one of the aims of the UD project was to make these seeds available to Paharia farmers of the region through the community seed bank at Makhni Pahar so that they can revive them on their own lands. A number of farmers expressed interest in receiving these seeds and planting them in their fields and their names were duly noted for the purpose of seed disbursement to be carried out at the onset of the monsoons.
The traditional seed exhibition was followed by a presentation on organic agriculture by Santosh Kumar from Jharkhand Vikas Parishad (UD partner NGO) and Kalidas Malto which involved a in depth explanation of the process of making and using vermin-compost.
