Indigenous Seed Conservation Practices in Western Himalaya: A Case Study from Mandakini Valley, Uttarakhand, India

Improvement of crop varieties and the delivery of resultant high-quality seeds and planting materials to the farmers are crucial for the sustainable mountain agricultural practices. So, food security in the mountains is indirectly dependent on the seed security of the farming communities there. A subsistence form of agriculture is prevalent in the western Himalaya, due to which conservation of local seed of native crop varieties becomes important for their perpetual crop production. This study divulges different indigenous methods endorsed by the farming communities of the region for storing and preserving the seeds for the future cultivation of crops. Findings indicated that seeds prior to storage undergo a number of traditional methods from solarization to application of oils or smoking in the storage room for their better preservation. Seed quality and losses were often checked every three to six months of storage with parameters such as grain moisture content, insect damage, seed germination, and their vigor. The present study documented the indigenous seed conservation practices of the rural farming folks as well as the community seed bank maintained by the Navdanya Biodiversity Conservation Farm. In the context of a country like India where agriculture has been pursued through indigenous practices, these traditional seed conservation practices form part of the indigenous knowledge system that ensures sustainability of agricultural productivity in the mountains vis a vis high yield varieties/GM seeds.