Hamara Beej Abhiyan

The “Hamara Beej Abhiyan”, a movement to revert to indigenous seeds and put farmers in charge of agriculture by replacing chemical intensive farming with ecology friendly alternatives, is a venture of civil society organisations who are working with farmers across India. It has been felt that to reduce the farmer’s dependence on market forces, there is the need to encourage conservation of indigenous seed varieties and make them available to farmers. The need is felt for seed banks and retraining farmers’ who have been de skilled by market dependence.

As a part of the campaign, Living Farms seeks to educate the landless and marginal farmers of impoverished districts of Orissa about the need to take control over seeds. At Rayagada and Kalahandi districts Living Farms is studying traditional farming methods that were adopted before the onslaught of the green revolution. The tribal farmers are being encouraged to move away from high input oriented risky cash crops to food crops they grew traditionally. Seeds are being provided to them to initiate such activities.