Rainfed Farming Wisdom

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

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

In our region, even without rain, we cultivate crops like moong, urad, and horse gram. We also preserve their seeds by mixing them with neem leaves.

— Kunakanta Behera · Dashapalla, Nayagarh, Odisha

We do traditional farming. We save rain-fed seeds and cultivate crops like sorghum and chickpea.

— Vijay kanesh · Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh

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

We cultivate zero-input crops like chickpeas, flaxseed, and pigeon pea. Even with less water, the crops ripen, and their seeds are also collected. Narayan Lal Baranda.

— narayanlalbaranda5@gmail.com · Jhapa, Dungarpur, Rajasthan

Name: Purnachandra Pradhan. Village: Gatamaha, G.P. Bondaguda, block Nuagaon, District Kandhamal. We are cultivating green gram, mustard, and black gram as a second crop without irrigation, and we are also saving seeds.

— Sidheswar Nayak · Kandhamal, 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 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 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 save and sow our traditional seeds. Such as chickpea, sorghum, Bhadi, pearl millet, etc.

— Vijay kanesh · Alirajpur, Madhya 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

We keep green gram, black gram, and horse gram seeds, and cultivate them in the second crop.

— Puspanjali Nag

I, Sukhlal Parkhi from Rampur Mewara, cultivate pigeon pea, chickpea, flaxseed, and mustard in these hilly regions using zero-irrigation farming. We collect seeds using traditional methods. We put neem leaves in seed storage.

— narayanlalbaranda5@gmail.com · Jhapa, Dungarpur, Rajasthan

We have cultivated moong and urad this rainy season. We will keep the seeds and cultivate again next rainy season.

— Gitanjali Bhoi

Even without rain, I cultivate moong (green gram). And I preserve the seeds by using eggplant leaves and neem leaves.

— Kunakanta Behera · Dashapalla, Nayagarh, Odisha

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

We cultivate a second crop without water or irrigation, using green gram, black gram, and horse gram. We don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers. We grow them very well from seeds, resulting in good produce for eating.

— Parikshit Majhi

Our ancestors used to cultivate pulse crops as a second crop without irrigation, adopting organic methods. I also store black gram and horse gram seeds and cultivate every year using this method.

— Kumudini Chhanchan

Here, rain-fed crops are barley, green gram, and maize, and their seeds are stored.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

After harvesting the paddy, we cultivate crops like moong, urad, chana, and masoor in that field without irrigation. We save these for our home. We then prepare the soil there for further cultivation.

— swornalata nayak · Patnāgarh, Balangir, Odisha

We store moong pulse seeds using traditional methods and sow the seeds as a Rabi crop with zero irrigation after the Kharif season crop harvest.

— Ahalya Sahu · Kalahandi, Odisha

Yes, we practice zero-irrigation farming and also conserve seeds. For example, horse gram, Kodo millet, little millet, finger millet, and black gram are zero-irrigation crops.

— Sukhdas Mandavi · Mohla, Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Chhattisgarh

In our region, zero irrigation crops are sown, mainly pulses and oilseeds, and we practice traditional farming and conserve pulse seeds.

— Sunil oraon · Ranchi, Jharkhand

Our ancestors used to cultivate pulses as a second crop using organic methods without irrigation. I also cultivate every year using this method by storing black gram and horse gram seeds.

— Kumudini Chhanchan · Bhojpur, Sambalpur, Odisha

Yes, we cultivate dryland crops such as madiya, kodo, and kutki in our region, and we also conserve seeds for every year.

— Sukhdas Mandavi · Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Chhattisgarh

Yes, we grow other crops and also preserve seeds like black gram, pigeon pea, and green gram.

— Jagannath Baraik · Ranchi, Jharkhand

When there was no rain, I cultivated green gram, black gram, and horse gram. I store the seeds by mixing them with neem leaves.

— Sushama Digal · Dashapalla, Nayagarh, Odisha

Our ancestors used to cultivate pulses as a second crop without irrigation, adopting organic methods. And I also cultivate every year using this method, by saving black gram and horse gram seeds.

— Kumudini Chhanchan · Bhojpur, Sambalpur, Odisha

Our ancestors used to cultivate pulse crops as a second crop without irrigation, adopting organic methods. I also follow this method every year by storing black gram and horse gram seeds.

— Kumudini Chhanchan · Bhojpur, Sambalpur, Odisha

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 keep seeds of mustard, green gram, horse gram, tuber crops, black gram, and taro for cultivation without water.

— Puspanjali Nag

Yes, we also grow other crops without irrigation using traditional methods, which we call 'unhari' crops. We also store their seeds using traditional methods.

— Rupesh Maravi · Mandla, Madhya Pradesh

Our ancestors used to cultivate pulses as a second crop without irrigation, adopting organic methods. I also cultivate every year using this method by saving black gram and horse gram seeds.

— DASHARATH SINGH · Jamunkira, Sambalpur, Odisha

Our ancestors used to cultivate pulses as a second crop using organic methods without irrigation, and I also follow this method every year by storing black gram and horse gram seeds.

— Kumudini Chhanchan · Bhojpur, Sambalpur, Odisha

We do farming without irrigation, such as barley and pulse varieties like 'baturi' and 'kerav'. Barley does not need water, and 'baturi' and 'kerav' are sown after the rice harvest and grow well. We also preserve their seeds, which are useful for sowing next year.

— Ram Kumari

We will cultivate mustard, green gram, and other crops, store their seeds, and cultivate them again next year.

— Gitanjali Bhoi · Sundargarh, Odisha

In our region, rain-fed crops like black gram, green gram, oilseeds, etc., are grown, which need protection.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

We are tribal people. We do our own farming. We have been farming without water. We grow chickpeas, moong, kulthi, and black gram.

— Parikshit Majhi

We are cultivating a second crop. In our second crop, we are farming by saving seeds of chickpeas, lentils, and mustard, and applying manure using our traditional farming methods.

— Anjana Khadia · Sundargarh, Odisha