Food Heritage Crops

Old seeds: Bhadi Kodo millet and Samal.

— Kachala Choudhary

I have old paddy seeds.

— Kachala Choudhary

The oldest seeds we have are Hyacinth beans, paddy, moong beans, urad beans, and horse gram. We dry the seeds in the sun and store them by tying them in bundles.

— Anirudha Marai · Sambalpur, Odisha

Yes, tell me. Here, even today, we still have old seeds that can be safely preserved. Things like Sawa, Medo, Nijhari, Kodo, and Kurthi, which are still only available here...

— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

We preserve old seeds for sowing work, which explicitly includes Moong, Kili, and Mustard.

— Vijay Kumar bhardwaj · Baloda Bazar, Chhattisgarh

The oldest seeds are lentils, chickpeas, peas, pulses.

— Kekti Tekam · Dindori, Madhya Pradesh

We have inherited the seeds of Bhaadi, Kodra, Bati, Jowar.

— Kachala Choudhary

We have preserved various items such as moong, beans, and gourds from ancient times.

— S Guruteli · Sindhiguda, Malkangiri, Odisha

We save stable seeds and kuluth seeds are valuable for our family. We have old seeds like millet, kuluth, moong. We sell them and use them as food.

— Basanti · Dashapalla, Nayagarh, Odisha

Yes, I collect my own seeds. Mung and Black Gram are the most valuable seeds for our family. I have horse gram, black gram, bajra (pearl millet) and Mugeisal rice as old seeds. For us...

— gadadhar dash

What are the oldest seeds you have? Sesame, Balat, trouble.

— Rajesh Mallik · Boudh, Odisha

I have the oldest jowar seed.

— Kachala Choudhary

Yes, we save old seeds.

— Kachala Choudhary

Precious seeds: Pearl millet, Black gram, Sorghum, Bhaadi Kodo millet, Barnyard millet, Bati.

— Kachala Choudhary

We save and sow our traditional seeds. Such as chickpea, sorghum, Bhadi, pearl millet, etc.

— Vijay kanesh · Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh

The traditional seeds are pearl millet, smooth sorghum, and Bhadi kodo millet.

— Kachala Choudhary

We have traditional seeds here like Saadia, paddy, pigeon pea, semi-native gourds, Karaiguta, Chipra, etc. We preserve these every year and cultivate them using old traditional methods without irrigation.

— Rupesh Maravi · Mandla, Madhya Pradesh

All the old seeds are garden seeds. Corn seeds. Bean seeds. And gourd seeds. Its name is Chhata Dura, Ranginiguda, Pedawada, Malkangiri.

— Trinath badanayak · Kamarpalli, Malkangiri, Odisha

Chickpeas and gumbra are our old seeds, which we preserve and then sow.

— Vinita Singh Yadav · Mukasim, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

These seeds are inherited, given by our ancestors.

— Kachala Choudhary

Our ancestors have been cultivating Kodo, Barnyard, Foxtail, Finger millet, Horse gram, and Barley since ancient times, which are very nutritious. We always preserve their seeds and cultivate them every year.

— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

The oldest grains are foxtail millet and our proso millet; these two are ancient grains.

— Ramadas Badanayak · Udulibeda, Malkangiri, Odisha

In traditional farming methods, to preserve seeds, we need to conserve the oldest and indigenous varieties of seeds.

— Ram Maravi · Dindori, Madhya Pradesh

We still have traditional seeds like Kodo, Kutki, Maize, Sorghum, Kulthi, Arhar, etc., which we sow using old methods even without irrigation facilities. Even then, our crops ripen.

— Rupesh Maravi · Mandla, Madhya Pradesh

Which is the oldest seed your family has?

— Amar Lal Dhurwey · Mandla, Madhya Pradesh

Jowar, Bhadi, and Kodo were precious seeds.

— Kachala Choudhary

These native seeds were inherited by us from our ancestors.

— Sunil oraon · Verno, Gumla, Jharkhand

The things we used to cultivate before were black gram, green gram, cowpea, horse gram, etc.

— Batakrushna Sahoo

For our family, the most valuable seeds are pulse seeds, paddy seeds, etc.

— Sunil oraon · Ranchi, Jharkhand

We save our traditional seeds that we have inherited.

— Vijay kanesh · Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh

We have traditional moong and urad dal. We cultivate them generation after generation. I will tell you what we have preserved.

— Gitanjali Bhoi · Karamdihi, Sundargarh, Odisha

The oldest seeds like Kodo, Mejdri, Sawa, Maize, Bajra, all these crops were cultivated with agricultural fertilizer.

— Kamleah Kumar · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

In our past, we used to bundle seeds like Kulthi, Biri, Moong, and Dhudung in Sialpata leaves and store them, and these seeds would remain insect-proof.

— Parikshit Majhi