Odisha is the first state to notify a committee to conserve and mainstream seeds conserved by tribal farmers
Participatory varietal trial plots in an agroecology centre in Malkangiri’s Chitrokonda block. Photo: Odisha Millets Mission. The Odisha government has formed a committee to release traditional millet varieties in accordance with the standard operating protocols (SoP) for seed systems. With the newly constituted ‘Landrace Varietal Release Committee’ (LVRC), Odisha becomes the first state in India to develop a protocol for releasing indigenous millet varieties conserved by tribal farmers for centuries.
“We aim to recognise the efforts of custodian farmers, mostly the tribals, in the conservation of traditional millet landraces,” said Arabinda Kumar Padhee, principal secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment (DA&FE), Odisha.
Landraces are ecotypes cultivated for a long time in their pristine habitats, and it is high time to preserve these landraces before they become extinct, he added.
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Subhasa Mohanto, a custodian tribal woman farmer in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, has been preserving several traditional millet varieties. Some of the finger millet varieties are performing well in the area, such as Bati and Janha.
Farmers often prefer them because their grain size is bigger, and they taste sweeter compared to released varieties such as Sri Chaitanya and Bhairabi, she explained.
In the rainfed areas, tribal farmers like Subhasa have selected landraces for certain traits based on their ecological suitability, cooking and consumption habits. The traits that characterise such landraces express in their adaptation sites and may not express fully in other sites. Therefore, landraces are very location specific.
Odisha Millets Mission (OMM), a flagship programme launched in 2017-18 to comprehensively revive millets in the state, has conducted a series of participatory varietal trials (PVTs) in collaboration with custodian farmers, local non-profits and technical experts.
From these PVTs, it has been observed that some of the millet landraces under cultivation are performing better than the released varieties under different agronomic practices.
“Several such landraces are in high demand, but not easily accessible for farmers,” said K Varaprasad, former director Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research. This is due to a lack of suitable seed systems for landraces. He emphasised that the formal seed system only caters to notified varieties and is unsuitable for landraces.
Considering the importance of conserving these landraces, the state government formed a working group on seeds under OMM in 2019 to create an enabling framework for landraces managed by community-based institutions.
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The working group under the chairmanship of Varaprasad and in consultation with experts from ICAR, Indian Institute of Millets Research, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Centre for Pulses Research-Berhampur, Odisha State Seed Corporation, Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network and Watershed Support Services and Activity Network (WASSAN) developed an SoP for seed systems for landraces.
“For the first time in the country, a comprehensive SoP has been developed for recognition, evaluation and release of traditional landraces through a seed system for landraces,” said Padhee, the Principal Secretary.
In addition to standard scientific parameters such as yield, other criteria like taste, climate resilience, pest tolerance, and cultural significance have also been considered while developing this SoP, he highlighted.
“Although this SoP for seed systems for landraces is developed for millets, the framework is suitable for other crops as well, including horticulture,” said Susanta Sekhar Choudhury, Seed-expert at WASSAN, the programme secretariat of OMM. Experts and custodian farmers with experience in landraces of different crops may be involved to contextualise this SoP for the seed system for other crops, he underlined.
The LVRC is constituted of representatives from the Agriculture department, Odisha State Seed and Organic Products Certification Agency, Odisha State Seed Corporation, State Seed Testing Laboratory, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, ICAR-IIMR, custodian farmers, Farmers Producer Organisations, Working Group on Seeds under OMM and non-profits with expertise in millet germplasm.
The LVRC will advise the state government on matters related to mainstreaming landraces on millets in Odisha. It will review the implementation of government-approved SoP on landraces on millets in the state and submit periodic reports to the state government.
The committee will also assess and release landraces of millet crops for the state considering their traits and preferred by farmers. Besides, the LVRC will review the assessments of landraces on millets, seed requirements, especially of certified foundation seed and plan for different regions of the state.
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