Karnataka: Festival of crops that have been neglected, forgotten by all

Those interested in kitchen and terrace gardening will get hands-on experience in grafting of plants and conserving and, storing of seeds in an organic way, during the two-day 'Mysuru Seed Festival', scheduled to be held on June 3 and 4, at Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry in Mysuru.

The two-day seed festival will display 1,000 varieties of traditional rice, millets, pulses, greens, roots and tubers.

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More than 30 seed saver groups, from across the state, will participate in the festival and explain how to treat the seeds of indigenous varieties to conserve them, during the workshop on June 4. Farmers from Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and other districts will participate.

It is a festival of crops that have been neglected, underutilised and almost forgotten by all. Besides, traditional farmers and seed savers will share their knowledge with all. This will create sharing, networking and learning opportunities, said G Krishna Prasad, director, Sahaja Samrudha.

When asked how the seed festival will help the common man, limited to purchasing rice and pulses from supermarkets, Nishant, one of the organisers, said, "Nowadays, most of them are interested and are involved in kitchen and terrace gardening."

"Normally, the seeds available in the market are hybrid varieties and not indigenous. But, the seeds available here can be reused for reproduction. Leave one fruit in the plant and you get indigenous seed. The farmers here will educate on how to save the seeds. There is also a seed ball making workshop," he added.

Food festival

Besides, there will be a food festival, where women from Dharwad and North Karnataka prepare mouth-watering 'little millet (saame) dosa', a variety of greens dosas and others.

A variety of jackfruit saplings including Siddu Halasu, Shankara, Sarvarutu, Gumless, and ‘super early’ will be available for sale.

The festival is organised by Sahaja Samrudha, in collaboration with Swissaid and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL).