A sequence of seed selection workshops has been conducted in Aracode and including one in Semmanarai . The aim of these workshops is to equip the community to select good-quality seeds from the farmland. Seed selection techniques are used to get a good yield by choosing the best speed to ensure survival. Usually, seeds are bought and then sowed but through this training seed conservation efforts will be inculcated to make the community more self-reliant by being able to select good seeds for future harvests.
There was a functional seed bank ten years ago in Aracode but due to many facts like erratic rainfall and crop raid, agriculture was not practiced for a while. With these workshops, the hope is that seed selection techniques will be brought back and through this, interested farmers will become the seed keepers or savers.
So far, three workshops have been conducted in Aracode, and one in Semmanarai-where there were many women participants. Sivaraj- a member of the Irula community in Aracode was the man behind these workshops and this is what he has to say:
By Nayantara Lakshman
