Village Level Gene Seed Grain Bank An Initiative to Promote Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security

Traditionally, rice was being grown on upland, medium land, lowland, crops like finger millet (Eleucine coracana), little millet (Panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), Niger (Guizotia abyssinica), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) and horse gram (Dolichos uniflorus) were cultivated in donger (land on hill slopes) and upland only. With the advent of Green Revolution, the state government promoted high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice, also supplying seeds and inputs at subsidized rates with guaranteed buy back of the harvested paddy. Similarly establishment of paper mills, cashew processing company and their support to farmers triggered plantation of cash crops like cashew and eucalyptus in donger and upland areas. As a result, farmers discontinued growing local landraces of millets and pulses leading to their loss. From around 1750 landraces of paddy and more than 30 varieties of finger millet in the 1950s, the district was left with only around 340 varieties of paddy and 10 varieties of finger millets. To address the issue of food security and conservation of local landraces, M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) started working with the people in this region. Initially, four villages were selected and farmers were shown how these traditional varieties could be grown in a better way. Processes like Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB), Participatory Varietal purification and selection (PVS) were used integrating practices like integrated pest management and integrated nutrient management to optimize productivity.