How Navdanya works

Four kinds of farmers participate in Navdanya’s conservation programmes.

1 The first kind of farmers participating in Navdanya’s seed saving movement are the beej rakshaks, the seed keepers who have continued to use and conserve diverse varieties on their own. These farmers are usually small peasants in marginal or remote areas where green revolution monocultures have not yet displaced native species. This is primarily because the technologies of intensive agriculture cannot be adapted to their terrains or because the people do not have the resources to shift into resource-chemical-intensive agriculture.

Many of these farmers are women for whom the use of these traditional seeds means the difference between survival and non-survival because they simply cannot risk the crop failure associated with the new seeds. The interlinkage of the traditional farming system using traditional seeds and inputs from the available natural resources is the only means by which most of these farmers can provide food and shelter for their families.

2 The second farmer is he who has shifted from traditional farming and has suffered as a consequence. Now the farmer wishes to attain status as a beej rakshak and reintroduce diversity in his fields. The most common reason for farmers to shift to plantation of new seeds is because of promotion of the seeds by private seed companies. The most popular reason for farmers to shift back into traditional agriculture has been the security that is in-built in farming system using the traditional seed in terms of food security, pest infestation, plant disease, and independence from cash economies.

3 The third farmer is the beej utpadak, the community seed producer. The responsibility of the beej utpadak includes keeping their land aside for the multiplication of the conserved seeds. Whether the seed is to be sold or given freely depends on the culture of the region, the motivation of the seed producer, and the economic impact of keeping the land aside for seed production. Such farmers may need to be temporarily compensated monetarily until seed exchange/sales or barter can meet their requirement.

4 The Navdanya conservation model involves another kind of beej rakshak as well. These are the farmers who continue to conserve native plant varieties for future generations despite the difficulty presented by changes in economic and cultural contexts. These beej rakshaks might need to be compensated by the community or public interest groups as conserving diversity to ensure future ecological security might not yield immediate economic benefits.