Baranaja is a mixed farming practice of growing twelve or more indigenous crops in the same farm.
300 million farmers is a lot of people. India houses them making it the country with the largest number of small scale farmers in India. The country also holds the second largest agrarian land in the world. But due to industrialisation of farming and climate change, farmers are finding it hard to sustain themselves. On the other hand, in Jadhar, a small village of India, indigenous seeds are spelling boon for the small scale farmers. Through a mixed farming practice called the Baranaja, farmers grow twelve or more indigenous seeds in the same farm land to safeguard themselves from expensive farming techniques, climate change, and attacks of the wild animals. Learning from the successes of this practice, the farmers from other regions are quickly adopting this practice.
We, the farmers, want to create a system where farmers are empowered to not only satisfy their own hunger, but also the hunger of the world. To create such a system, we must make sure that our farmers are self-reliant, live with dignity, and prosper.
Vijay Jardhari is a lead activist from the Chipko Movement in India and the father of the seeds saving movement- Beej Bachao Andolan.
About The Author
Ritu Bhardwaj
A filmmaker, rebel, and an entrepreneur; Ritu is trying to use the power of stories to challenge the narratives that undermine us as a society. She loves to participate in spaces, which encourage open dialogues. She will be totally fine living in a forest by herself. Maybe she will retire that way. But before that she is on mission to work on narratives that push for just and equitable societies.