A dimension within Dryland Farming Resilience
Centering on traditional farming, seed saving, and storage, with a specific interest in millets and other crops.
150 voices speak to this
Positive
Overall Community Sentiment
We save and sow our traditional seeds. Such as chickpea, sorghum, Bhadi, pearl millet, etc.
— Vijay kanesh · Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh
Here, we cultivate paddy, sawa, medon, and mijhri. We store sawa, medon, and mijhri at home for sowing in the next year. Additionally, among pulses, we have kurthi and baturi, which we also store and sow the following year.
— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh
We store black gram, green gram, finger millet, horse gram, foxtail millet, and pearl millet for future cultivation.
— Batakrushna Sahoo
Here, we cultivate Sawa, Medon, Mujhri, Kodo, and pulses using the 'Batririri' method. We also store the seeds at home for the following year and then re-sow them in the field; this practice is a legacy from our ancestors.
— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh
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
We do farming. We save some seeds beforehand and then cultivate. This way, we get many crops, including green gram, black gram, and pigeon pea.
— Ulapi Sahu · Balangir, Odisha
We keep green gram, black gram, and horse gram seeds, and cultivate them in the second crop.
— Puspanjali Nag
We cultivate seeds such as chickpea, lentil, mustard, and horse gram using traditional, possibly rain-fed, farming methods. We preserve these seeds and cultivate them using this traditional agricultural practice.
— Laxmi Sahu
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
We preserve old seeds for sowing work, which explicitly includes Moong, Kili, and Mustard.
— Vijay Kumar bhardwaj · Baloda Bazar, Chhattisgarh
We will cultivate mustard, green gram, and other crops, store their seeds, and cultivate them again next year.
— Gitanjali Bhoi · Sundargarh, Odisha
In rain-fed land, we cultivate horse gram and green gram, and we store their seeds safely by using neem and karanja leaves.
— Sita Behera · Dashapalla, Nayagarh, Odisha
Yes, we grow other crops and also preserve seeds like black gram, pigeon pea, and green gram.
— Jagannath Baraik · Ranchi, Jharkhand
This year, we have cultivated green gram, black gram, and chickpeas. We will save the seeds to cultivate them again next year.
— Gitanjali Bhoi · Karamdihi, Sundargarh, Odisha
We store the seeds of ridge gourd, hyacinth beans, bottle gourd, water chestnut, bitter gourd, and sponge gourd at home and cultivate them annually.
— Laxmi Bagh · Subdega, Sundargarh, Odisha
In rain-fed land, we cultivate horse gram and green gram, and we store the seeds safely in the village using neem leaves and karada leaves.
— Sita Behera · Dashapalla, Nayagarh, Odisha
Chickpeas and gumbra are our old seeds, which we preserve and then sow.
— Vinita Singh Yadav · Mukasim, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh
Here, rain-fed crops are barley, green gram, and maize, and their seeds are stored.
— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh
After Anukuta, we observe the soil moisture, plow the field, and sow green gram and black gram. We keep these seeds stored at home.
— Bharati Khandapatra · Mayurbhanj, Odisha
Yes, we cultivate barnyard millet and finger millet and also conserve seeds.
— Manjusha Marko · Dudhi, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh
We are cultivating moong and urad beans. We have kept seeds and will cultivate again next year.
— Gitanjali Bhoi · Sundargarh, Odisha
Yes, pulses are cultivated in this. According to our ancestors, we also preserve seeds.
— Jagannath Baraik · Bayang, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Jharkhand
In our region, we save and conserve our local seeds such as indigenous oilseed seeds, indigenous pulse seeds, and paddy seeds.
— Sunil oraon · Ranchi, Jharkhand
We have cultivated moong and urad this rainy season. We will keep the seeds and cultivate again next rainy season.
— Gitanjali Bhoi
We cultivated moong and urad dal this year and saved the seeds to cultivate again next year.
— Gitanjali Bhoi · Sundargarh, Odisha
We save seeds at our location and keep them for our family. And saving old seeds in a traditional way is our
— Anil Pargi
We farm at our home and manage our household with it. We cultivate pigeon pea and other pulses with low water, and also sow barley. These require less water, and we also save them for the next year. This way, we preserve the seeds.
— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh
We do traditional farming. We save rain-fed seeds and cultivate crops like sorghum and chickpea.
— Vijay kanesh · Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh
We cultivated rainfed crops like pigeon pea, mung bean, and black gram, and will continue to cultivate and preserve them for the future.
— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh
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
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
We will cultivate mustard, moong, and other crops, save the seeds, and cultivate them again next year.
— Gitanjali Bhoi · Sundargarh, Odisha
Sawa, Medo, Mijhri are our traditional crops, which our ancestors used to cultivate by plowing with bullocks and a plough. They consumed these crops throughout the year and saved seeds in their homes for the next year's sowing. We still practice farming today.
— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh
I cultivate pulse crops without irrigation. We save pulse seeds, among which horse gram, black gram, and pigeon pea are the oldest varieties. We save these seeds for cultivation every year. Our ancestors used to cultivate using manure and traditional ploughs.
— DASHARATH SINGH
For the second crop, we cultivate seeds such as moong, urad, and arhar. We save those seeds to cultivate them again the following year.
— RINA BEHERA · Hemagiri, Sundargarh, Odisha
We used to cultivate various crops extensively. Additionally, I cultivated mustard, moong bean, guava, horse gram, etc. All these seeds are important for my family.
— RINA BEHERA · Sundargarh, Odisha
We will cultivate green gram and black gram this year and save the seeds for cultivation next year.
— Gitanjali Bhoi · Sundargarh, Odisha
Yes, we save our local seeds. The most precious seeds for the family are wheat, chickpeas, peas, paddy, etc. Seeds are precious.
— Vimala
We save our traditional seeds that we have inherited.
— Vijay kanesh · Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh
We cultivate a second crop. The valuable seed of our family is Horse gram. Our ancestors have given us Green gram, Black gram, Horse gram, and Finger millet. We follow the farming methods of our ancestors.
— Basanti · Nayagarh, Odisha
AI-synthesised pieces woven from many community voices on this theme. They may contain errors or interpretation — they're a reflection of the stories, not a record of fact.

We carefully save seeds from our diverse crops like chickpeas, lentils, and mustard, ensuring we can grow them again next year and maintain our livelihood.

By carefully collecting and preserving seeds from our first harvest, we ensure a second, nutritious crop and maintain our traditional farming methods for generations.

By preserving our traditional, rain-fed seeds and planting them with care, we ensure food for our families and fodder for our animals.

By cultivating a variety of crops, preserving ancestral seeds, and exploring animal husbandry, we build a resilient livelihood for our community.