Mysuru Seed Festival to showcase over 250 rare crops

A two-day seed festival to be held in Mysuru on June 3 and 4 will be an effort to revive some of the traditional varieties of crops that are on the verge of extinction or have been neglected by the farming community citing lack of demand. Being conducted by Sahaja Samrudha - an organization promoting preservation of indigenous varieties of crops to conserve agro-diversity – Swissaid and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, it is expected to provide a platform for different seed saver groups from the region. Agricultural diversity Krishnaprasad of Sahaja Samrudha said that local farming communities have preserved and reused their diverse indigenous seed varieties over generations and this helped promote agricultural diversity which is part of India’s heritage. The threat to the country’s agro-diversity is real as seeds of some varieties of crops are increasingly becoming rare and the seed diversity of the country was also being eroded, he added. The festival brings together seed saving groups from all over Karnataka, who have preserved seeds, crops and with it knowledge that are part of the crop diversity and heritage and the festival is a celebration of the country’s seed wealth, community knowledge and food culture, according to Mr. Krishnaprasad.