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Home >> Janadhnaya >> Seed Initiative |
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Dear Friends,
We would like to introduce the Janadhanya Seed Savers initiative.
Farmers of Janadhanya (a registered society), located in the dry lands of Kanakapura Taluk, are engaged in subsistence farming. Over the years, GREEN Foundation has worked with these farmers to conserve the local seed varieties farmers have held in their custody. The seeds range from subsistence crops like finger millet (ragi), other millets like pearl millet (bajra), foxtail millet (navane), amaranthus and upland varieties of rice. Many of the open-pollinated vegetable seeds have been conserved by women in their kitchen gardens.
Making these open-pollinated, organically grown local varieties available for distribution is an effort to protect the livelihoods of farmers in this area. The diversity represented is a symbol of farmers' knowledge and heritage maintained over generations. These seeds are the backbone of organic agriculture. Well-suited to the environment, they are drought and pest resistant. |
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 Current emphasis on industrial food systems, dependency on agrochemicals and privatisation of genes and genetic engineering favour corporate control over agricultural biodiversity. This has led biodiversity policy at the international level to a dead end. Traditional knowledge of plant genetic resources is at risk of being lost. The global push for privatisation of biodiversity continues to encourage private ownership of these genetic resources.
How do we cope with this situation?
Janadhanya Seed Savers is a symbolic initiative that was established as a countermovement based on 15 years of experience and a broad understanding of the nuances of seed collection, maintaining an ex situ collection and multiplying these seeds on farmers' land. Over the years the concept has spread across the state of Karnataka and to other states in south India.
Farmers have conserved their seed varieties for generations, and this carries with it a social, cultural and spiritual connotation. Indigenous knowledge and the genetic resources conserved by farmers have ecological, economic, gender, cultural and—above all in today's globalised world—political dimensions.
Food production today is unfortunately dependant on corporate control over seeds and related inputs that make farming unsustainable. If farmers and their livelihoods are to be sustained, their right to the genetic resources that they have nurtured must be reinstated. The debate over farmers' ownership or stewardship has highlighted interesting attempts at the international level. In the last two decades, ever since the CBD took place and the countervailing forces from the WTO have been discussed, the divide between the countries of the global north and the global south have become sharper. Intellectual property rights over genetic resources have been tied to trade-related issues and have opened a Pandora's box.
The main goal of the Janadhanya initiative is to resuscitate the increasingly complex issues of access to agrobiodiversity and genetic resources for sustainable food production at the level of small and marginal farmers and to safeguard these farmers' livelihoods.
There is an attempt by the government of India to recognise farmers' contributions to diversity conservation through a Gene Fund initiative, which rewards farmers who are stewards. Similarly, the Janadhanya initiative will attempt to support the seed savers and their contributions by sharing the resources and their benefits, distributing them in exchange for donations from various sources.
Through this initiative we hope to achieve
• saving the genetic resources and agro biodiversity
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support the livelihoods of farmers
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create awareness among consumers so they know where their food comes from and eat locally produced food
• lay the foundation for organic food production with organically produced seeds.
We invite you to become a member of the Janadhanya Seed Savers initiative if you are:
• a home gardener or have your own farm
• an NGO working with farmers
• an organization that cultivates organic food
Please read on to see what membership entails and to learn about the benefits of receiving diverse varieties of seeds and newsletters highlighting the different perspectives of seed saving. Seeds are treasures we have inherited from our ancestors. Let us pass them on to our children and to the generations to come
Membership and seed selection form
January – December 2009
Contact Address :
No. 30, Surya, 4th Main, 19th Cross,
N.S.Palya, BTM 2nd Stage,
Bangalore – 560 076, Karnataka, India.
Tel: 080-2678 4509,
Tel/ Fax : 080-2668 0995
Mob: 94498 61043
E-mail : green@greenfoundation.org.in, gfbangalore@gmail.com
Website : www.greenconserve.com
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