Laxman Ahkey
From 11th to 13th November 2022 a massive Kisan Swaraj Sammelan was organised in Mysore, Karnataka. Over 2000 people attended the 5th Kisan Swaraj Sammelan, representing various types of farmers including women, youth, and Adivasi farmers, seed savers, community organizers,
policy makers, field workers, scientists, activists, consumers, students, and so many others.
Coming as it does at the same time as the Egypt COP27 of UNFCCC, the central theme of the
sammelan was the climate crisis which is the most pressing threat to our food systems and farm
livelihoods. The Using Diversity Network also actively participated in the Sammelan with 5 community fellows from UD partner Nirman from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh setting up a stall at the event. The UD network representatives from Central India comprised of Heeralal Sarote and Mayaram Mandale from Dindori District, Madhya Pradesh, Laxman Ahkey and Gyansa Bharti from Patalkot, Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh and Krishna Prasad Gupta from Jashpur District, Chhattisgarh. The Using Diversity stall was one of over a 100 stalls at the event which displayed a diverse variety of seeds, crops, vegetables, greens, wild and uncultivated food and other associated agricultural produce from all corners of our country.
Several sessions on a variety of topics were held and through these sessions we received detailed information about the importance of traditional seeds and indigenous vegetables and ecological and natural farming practices. We got to taste a different dish everyday from the different stalls set up from every state of India. We got to interact with fellow farmer from different parts of India, hear and learn a little bit about a variety of different languages and ways of life. We were excided to see the rich diversity and variety of seeds in each stall and learned new and different ways of exhibiting produce from all the different stalls.
This was a really rewarding experience for all of us and we will return with our commitment to promoting traditional agriculture and natural farming further strengthened and will share what we learnt with the communities we work with.
