CELEBRATING 150 YEARS OF INDIA’S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM (2006 – 2007)

Bija Yatra

"If Charka was the symbol of the India’s independence, the seed is the symbol for the protection of this freedom”

The Objectives of the Yatra

• The main objectives of the yatra was:
• To promote organic farming and sustainable agriculture
• To keep seed in farmer’s hand and not to make seed a corporate monopoly
• To defend farmer’s rights
• To assert people’s rights to biodiversity
• To create awareness among the farmers on seed monopoly
• To distribute traditional and indigenous variety of seeds
• To promote GMO free, Patent free, Debt free and suicide free zones.
• To sensitize the policy makers of the country on the negative impact of existing seed laws.

The Action and Achievement

Navdanya spearheaded the movement in the three suicide belts of the country, namely, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka by burning the Bt. seeds in Amravati to reiterate its pledge to protect the farmer’s rights of seed saving and seed sharing.

The yatra, which was flagged off on May 9, 2006 from Sevagram in Vidarbha, Maharashtra focused on the Seed rights, seed conservation and sustainable agriculture. Awareness was also created through the medium of music and street play, to convey the message of organic agriculture, resistance to corporate monopoly of seeds, the harms of monocropping and benefits of multi cropping systems.

Apart from providing guidance and help to the farmers for the revival of agriculture, Navdanya, under the “Asha ke Beej” (Seeds of Hope) programme, distributed the indigenous variety of seeds to the farmers and encouraged them to shift to organic and sustainable agriculture.

More than 6000 farmers were given indigenous seeds. The farmers were so thrilled to receive the traditional seed varieties and Navdanya assured them to provide full support to them to convert to organic agriculture. It would be interesting to note that the seed bags contained nine seed varieties such as Tuar dal, paddy, spinach, mustard etc.

Various posters conveying messages on Bt. cotton failure, farmers’ suicides, sustainable agriculture were distributed among the farmer communities. As a part of the yatra, over 250 village communities were covered and more than 5000 farmers have affirmed their rights to biodiversity by taking a pledge to conserve, rejuvenate and protect their biodiversity. The awareness campaign reached areas of farmer’s suicide and distributed indigenous seeds by covering around 75 villages in Maharashtra, 85 villages in Andhra Pradesh and 90 villages were covered in Karnataka.

The College of Agriculture in Bijapur, Karnataka gave its full support to our endeavour in promoting awareness on the native seeds and it organized an interactive session between the Navdanya team and the professors and students of the college. The students promised to support the cause by sensitizing people.

More than 10,000 people were reached through the yatra and more than 10 million people were covered in Karnataka alone through electronic media. The Bija Yatra created awareness among farmers on GMO’s, corporate farming and seed monopolies.

The yatris had burnt Bt. Cotton throughout the journey of hope to encourage farmers to boycott Bt. Cotton, give up seeds of suicide and slavery, and adopt seeds of life and seeds of freedom and hope. A truck full of seeds travelled with the Bija Yatra and there was a hunger for seeds among farmers whose seed supply has been destroyed by the seed monopolies of Monsanto and its Indian subsidiary / licensees.

Press conferences were held in the three states where the yatra was covered. While addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Shiva said, “ Seed saving and sharing among farmers and adoption of ecological, organic farming will stop the vicious cycle of debt and create a virtuous cycle of prosperity”. She also added, “Bt cotton is responsible for increased cost of agricultural production and for ryots falling into debt trap leading to their suicides.”

Dr. Shiva also expressed concerns over the proposed Seed Act, which might destroy native varieties and leave farmers completely dependent on unreliable genetically modified seeds from corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta.

Mr. K. Ramakrishna, a senior CPI leader and President of Andhra Pradesh Ryotu Sangha, said indebtedness was solely responsible for increasing number of farmers’ suicides. During a press conference in Bangalore, Karnataka the Karnataka Rajya Ryot Sangha Vice President, Prof. K. Basavaraju said that there is an increase in the use of seeds marketed by bid companies. He also shared that the local and traditional varieties of seeds are good in quality and it is better to use them as they give good yields. Moreover, the consumer also can get good nutrition, as the seeds are toxic free.

As a follow up of the yatra, Navdanya will work with organizations in Maharasthra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to re-build public seed supply both through community initiatives and through public-public partnerships between farmers and public sector seed organization. Navdanya demands that the Non-GMO seed supply be built up to defend seed sovereignty and seed security.

The Knowledge Agreement in Agriculture finalized in Hyderabad during President Bush’s visit focuses exclusively on Genetic Engineering and will further cripple our seed sovereignty. Navdanya with farmers organizations and research organizations is launching a People’s Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture to -

1. Build on People’s Knowledge for a sustainable and just agriculture, in India, the U.S. and Worldwide.
2. Monitor the Bush-Singh – Monsanto- Walmart Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture.
3. Create alternatives to the Monsanto – Walmart Model of food production and distribution
4. Spread knowledge on GMOs and their hazards to the environment and public health
5. Spread knowledge on agro-ecology organic farming and indigenous farming systems
6. Defend farmers rights to seed and food sovereignty

The Bija Yatra followed this route through three states. Click to see more