Deepak Mangesh, UD project coordinator, Sahaja Samrudha
Adivasi means the first inhabitants of any place .The Adivasi people are the aboriginals who have learned and lived life by being completely in tune with nature. Many of these tribes today cease to exist and many are considered Particularly Vulnerable Tribal groups even by the government.
The disappearance of tribal communities is also the death of rich and diverse traditions, culture, art, and way of life of the planet. Realizing the need of conserving and preserving this diversity of the land in these days of “development”, Using Diversity Network is extensively working partnering / collaborating with like-minded organizations to promote agricultural biodiversity, food sovereignty, diet diversity, health, and nutrition of the Adivasi people. Sahaja Samrudha one of our partner’s – organic farmers collective which has a more than decade long experience working at the grassroots is currently working with Jenu Kuruba and Soliga tribal communities of Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts. The work is mainly driven by the intent to empower the tribal communities for People Led Development.
Roots and tubers are the traditional food of the aboriginals and now remain largely uncultivated in the days of market-driven, large-scale monoculture – dominated by the use of chemicals in almost all the stages until it is consumed.
Aimed at popularising tubers, promotion, conservation,n and sustainable use of traditional agriculture, indigenous crops, crop genetic resources, and uncultivated foods for enhanced food and nutritional security, Sahaja Samrudha in partnership with Rotary West, Mysore organized an exclusive mela of Roots & Tubers in February in Mysore and on demand one more mela was then organized in Dharwad in association with Gandhi Shanti Prathishtan.
Mysore Mela – 6th and 7th February 2021
Day – 1:
Shri Yaduveer Krishnadatta ChamarajaWadiyar, custodian of the royal house of Mysore inaugurated the mela. A beautiful “gourd lamp” hand made by Smt. Seema founder of Krishi Kala, was given as a token of gratitude. Dr. Lakshmi Unnithan- Agriculture World Magazinee Editor in Chief, released the “Forgotten Food Calendar- 2021 “. Sri Dinesh Kumar, secretary of Rotary club Mysore and Sri Imam Saheb Jatta UHS, Bagalkot were present.
To acknowledge the efforts in conserving the tuber diversity N M shaji of Kedaram Tuber Conservation Center , Kerala, was honoured with ” Tuber Conservationalist ” of the year award as part of the mela . He has grown a whopping 102 varieties of tubers in a plot of just 1.5 acre.
Pipal Tree organization from H.D Kote forest had brought large quantities of tubers for sale. Kunbi community’s Panduranga Rama Gavada and team from Joida had brought a 98 kg “Naga Kona”, one of the wild yam species which was one of the main attractions of the mela. Sannappa , Ramu, Suresh, BasavaiahJenukuruba’s from Nagarhole forest , H.D Kote and Jadegowda from BiligiriRangana hills brought rare tubers and forest honey they had collected for sale. Arun Kumar Bavidoddi, university of horticulture science Bagalkot brought colorful sweet potatoes for display. There were as many as 25 such stalls that came from different parts of Karnataka and other states too. Many tribal communities were present with the tubers they grow and the inherent wisdom they have about Roots and Tubers.
Hundreds of varieties of roots and tubers were on display such as Magaligenasu, Soravinagedde, Kaduarishina, Sebusoppu, Noore, Murudi, Basambu, different types of ginger, Nagaligenasu , Sambargedde and Kempunogali etc. most of them were never seen and never heard by many of the urban folks.
Day – 2:
An interesting thing added on the second day was the “cooking contest” which brought the amazing food diversity along with exciting recipies using tubers to the table.
All the visitors were amazed and also realized that many tasty food items can be made using roots and tubers.
P. Hegde bagged first place while Manjula Prakash and Rathi Santoshi bagged second and third place respectively. More than the prize they were happy to make new friends, serve their dishes to guests as well as to the visitors of mela, and I could see everyone enjoying the event.
Thousands of enthusiastic people from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, AP, Telangana, Maharashtra, Kerala visited the mela. Many among them were urban gardeners, new generation farmers, seed collectors, students, and were seen busy learning about the tubers from the Adivasi people at the stalls.
The two-day Roots and Tubers Mela, organized by SahajaSamrudha and Rotary Club at Mysore saw more than hundred varieties of Roots and tubers, 25 stalls, 15,000 visitors, and could successfully do a business of atleast twelve lakh rupees in just two days.
Dharwad Tuber mela – February 26, 27
Mela inaugurated by the District Commissioner of Dharwad, though was planned small scale witnessed more than five thousand people attending the mela and doing a business of up to ₹4,00,000/- rupees.
Dharwad also witnessed many interesting recipes as part of the cooking contest on the second day. Sahaja Samrudha is now thinking to support all the participants of the cooking contest by featuring all their recipes and publish a Tuber Recipe Book.
To sum it up:
I learned, Tubers are rich sources of carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. They are rich in antioxidants and have anti-cancer properties and are safe to be consumed by people with diabetes and high blood pressure. On the agricultural side, they are easy to grow and are extremely adaptable to a wide range of climatic conditions. Ask for no chemicals, are less water intensive crops and along with millets, tuber cultivation is the way forward to address the challenges of global warming, nutritional security, hunger and depleting soil health.
People are in search of healthy food and few are in search of seeds (group 1). Farmers are having genuine and health beneficiary food products (group 2). This Mela acted as a bridge between these two groups. Farmers shared their contact details with customers for future communications or potential orders and were also invited to visit their farms and learn to farm. It helped build new connections, it became a platform to earn income without any middle men, the mela proved to be a successful tool to popularise and bring in awareness about our forgotten foods, their health benefits, importance of practicing chemical free, bio diverse agriculture etc
The coronavirus has been successful in creating a frightening situation everywhere in the world. Basically this is just like a common fever but contagious. Many researchers have pointed at the immunity of humans to be the potent weapon to fight such viruses and thus people are now getting back to their roots and are looking for natural food.
Hence tribal way of life and tubers are seen to be the way forward for a Sustainable Planet.
