In rural Odisha, the Juang community’s seeds are gifts from ancestors

Nestled in the lush green Gonasika hills of Odisha’s Kendujhar district, at an elevation of around 3,000 feet, lives the Juang community—one of the state’s 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). For generations, the Juangs relied on the nearby forest—for food, medicine, firewood, and shelter. Their forebears knew that there would always be food in the forest, from tubers, to mushrooms, and insects.

The community meticulously foraged these wild foods, ensuring that they don’t over-harvest. While a portion of the wild foods was used for household consumption, the surplus was sold in the local weekly market, to supplement household incomes. Tragically, colonisation brought this relationship with the forest to a halt. “During the engrej sashan (British rule), our forest was declared as a reserve. This restricted our access to the very source of our sustenance,” laments Rukmini Juang, 68, from the Budhighar village in Banspal block.

Last year, the Juang tribe was accorded Habitat Rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006; this grants them the right to their own land and its resources. "However, the management plan for the habitat is yet to be developed by the Juang community, which needs to be passed in the Gram Sabha," says Birabar Naik, the founder of Banabasi Chetna Mandal that works for the land rights of tribal communities in Kendujhar. Determined to protect their habitat from the forest department–which may use it for commercial plantation–the Mandal is holding community meetings to arrive at a plan to govern their own land. 

Freedom from the coloniser did not come with much relief for the community. Post independence, mining-induced displacement in Odisha further impacted the Juangs. The Kendujhar district—rich in minerals like iron ore, manganese, bauxite, and gold—has seen 64 mining projects since the 1980s, diverting over 10,000 hectares of forest land, the highest in Odisha. “Our water bodies are polluted, and the soil has hardened. Crop yields have dropped,” says Hemant Juang, 43, from the Kalanda village. “The youth is losing interest in farming, turning instead to labour in mines or migrating to other states for backbreaking work,’’ he adds. 

Traditionally, the Juangs cultivated their native crops in mixed farming systems. But after 2010, resettlement as well as the introduction of hybrid seeds have led to the loss of heirloom varieties that are resilient, low-input, and nutritionally rich, eventually replacing them. Hybrid varieties of maize, paddy, potatoes and onions were planted. Monocropping of such varieties and the application of chemical inputs have reduced crop yield and jeopardised the community's traditional food diversity and culinary heritage. “The government once promoted Telangana Basmati here,” recalls Jema Juang, the sarpanch of Gonasika panchayat. This was the new rice variety, Telangana Sona, developed by Professor Jayashankar of the Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) in 2017. At around the same time, it was introduced to the Juang farmers—promoted as a healthy, extremely beneficial crop. It has the lowest glycemic index of all known varieties of paddy, a high protein, energy and carbohydrate content, and promising yields. 

“It was unsuitable for our land and needed costly chemical inputs. The resultant yield was less, too,” says Jema. 

Also read: One Odisha woman’s mission to preserve taste, tradition through seeds

Reviving native seeds

Since 2016, Talapada village in Banspal block has been charting a different path. Here, 30 Juang women have emerged as guardians of agrobiodiversity. They collect, preserve, and exchange over 70 varieties of native seeds—millets, cereals, pulses, tubers, and vegetables—reviving traditional mixed farming practices. “Our native seeds are a gift from our ancestors,” says Kusumi Juang, 47. “Unlike hybrids, they can be saved and replanted season after season.” Kusumi started farming around 2016, and she played an instrumental role in encouraging other women of her village to preserve native seeds. 

The women ensure genetic purity through seasonal propagation–the practice of growing a crop in its ideal seasons and climatic condition–which allows them to harvest the best, most “pure” crops for seeds. It also maintains uniformity of traditional varieties by cutting out the rogue “off-types.” They also exchange seeds to diversify what they grow. This practice, known as seed stewardship, preserves plant traits and improves resilience to environmental changes, explains Susanta Sekhar Choudhury, Programme Manager-Seed Systems at Watershed Support Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), Bhubaneswar.

“We harvest seeds from mature and healthy plants for the next cropping season, making sure not to include those which have been affected by wild animals,” says Kusumi as she showcases the varieties of finger millet, paddy and green gram that she harvested last year. “We are a seed-sufficient community. We don’t need to buy hybrid seeds from the market. Saving and exchanging native seeds is part of our culture. And over the years, this culture has fostered our community unity and bond,” she added.

Apart from the give and take of seed, the Juang women also share knowledge about different traditional methods. Maize, ridge gourd, and panicles of sorghum are often hung above the cooking area in the kitchen. The kitchen’s smoke and optimal temperature help protect the seed from pests and fungi. Ash is mixed with seed, and kept in earthen pots and bamboo baskets covered with straw and plastered with cow dung, to make the containers airtight. 

Dry leaves of different plants and trees are also used to preserve seeds. For instance, the leaves of begonia (Vitex negundo) and neem (Azadirachta indica) are mixed with pulses. This practice saves the pulses from beetle attacks. Similarly, turmeric and bael (Aegle marmelos) leaves are also used for preserving native seeds. 

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The power of women’s labour

Juang women are central to the community’s agriculture, taking vital decisions about the crops to be grown, mixing seeds of different crops before sowing, and carrying manure to the field. They also take care of weeding, harvesting, threshing and storing. 

“We don’t create separate plots for different crops. We mix a variety of crops in different proportions according to our family needs and sow them in one plot,” says Krushna Juanga, an octogenarian—the oldest woman in Talapada. Elders like Krushna attest to women’s empowered involvement in the region’s agriculture, a reality that has been shaped over the last four to five generations. The Juangs follow tailo chasho, a traditional rainfed mixed and rotational cropping system wherein several types of crops are grown simultaneously in a specific area, mostly on the mountain slopes. They grow a range of millets, too, such as sorghum, ragi, barnyard, little and foxtail–all native varieties.

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Pulses like black gram, green gram, horse gram, red gram and cowpea are grown in the same patch of land. Native varieties of black gram such as kala biri, chikinie biri and badhie biri are grown. They also cultivate other crops like maize, and several oilseeds such as sesame (kala rashi, dhala rashi, native varieties), mustard (rie, lutunie, native varieties) and niger.

Juang women are central to the community’s agriculture, taking vital decisions about the crops to be grown, mixing seeds of different crops before sowing, and carrying manure to the field. They also take care of weeding, harvesting, threshing and storing. 

Before broadcasting (the scattering and spreading of seeds at random) and sowing, the women ensure that their preserved seeds dry in the sun, so that they have a better rate of germination. The male members of the community plough the even and flat portion of the plot with oxen before the onset of monsoon in May-June. The women use a hoe to dig up the soil around the rocky and steep spots where the plough cannot be used. They sow seed in the dug out holes. Generally, the central portion of the plot is used for local varieties of upland paddy like alitundi, bijapatia and kalaputia. In the periphery of the paddy plot, taller crops like ragi and sorghum are grown. They act as border crops, an effective barrier for the wild animals. In between the ragi and sorghum, other crops are also intercropped like pulses, maize and tubers.

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Bountiful harvests

Only farmyard manure is used, in an effort to increase soil fertility. Traditionally, each Juang household rears indigenous breeds of cattle, oxen, goats and poultry. Dry dung from the livestock is applied in the field before sowing. Organic waste like crop residues decomposes and boosts fertility further. “The forest plays an important role in our traditional agriculture,” says Krushna, “Nutrient washout from the hilltop flow brings dead soil back to life, enabling better crop growth.” 

During monsoon, says WASSAN programme manager Choudhury, “The rich humus from the nearby forest flows into the field, which improves water retention, enriches soil fertility, and promotes the growth of beneficial microorganisms. This mixed pattern of cropping prevents overexploitation of the water table and soil nutrients, because different crops have different nutrient requirements. Besides, it also prevents soil erosion.”

The harvesting of different crops takes place across different months, providing a continuous supply of diversified ingredients. The first phase starts in September, at the end of which maize and paddy are harvested. After this, mustard is sown in the plot. The second harvest phase begins in November, when pulses and millets are the crops in focus. Farmers harvest sesame in December, and Mustard—the last crop—is taken care of in January.

Sesame and mustard are mainly cultivated as cash crops, while millets, rice, pulses, vegetables and tubers are grown for sustenance. The surplus of these harvests are sold by the Juang women in the local weekly markets, known as haats.

Heirloom seeds have empowered the Juang community to become seed sovereign and maintain a sustainable food supply throughout the year.

Talapada resident Parvati Juang, 41–who has been farming for 20 years now–beams about the rich dividends of tailo chasho. Last year, she harvested around 5 quintals of ragi, 8 quintals of paddy, 500 kg of sorghum, 1 quintal of maize, 845 kg of mustard, 650 kg of chickpea and over 700 kg of sesame from her two-acre farm. Besides, she also harvested 50 bags of taro (a tuber variety) and over 500 kg of various vegetables. “After selling the surplus harvest, last year, I earned around Rs 92,000,” says Parvati, who is a mother to two sons and a daughter. With the income earned from agriculture, she is able to support her children’s education.

“We grow our own food, which is nutritious and chemical-free,” says Ratnabati Juanga, 37, another Talapada resident. “Our native crops have evolved over many generations. They are suitable for our landscape, and can withstand extreme temperatures and prolong dry spells. In the neighbouring villages, we have seen farmers have switched to hybrid varieties to get high yield. But these alien varieties often fail to cope with even minor climate change.” Alien varieties also require expensive and harmful chemicals, a reason that motivated many Juang women to conserve native varieties in Talapada.

Heirloom seeds have empowered the Juang community to become seed sovereign and maintain a sustainable food supply throughout the year. “Ironically, open-pollinated and heirloom seed varieties are rapidly disappearing from the agricultural landscape,” says Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Government of Odisha. “Alongside this, the traditional knowledge and practices of seed saving are also fading. The growing dependence on a limited number of crops—primarily hybrids—has significantly reduced biodiversity in our food systems, making many crops increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis,” he highlighted.

The Juang women of Talapada are proving that traditional knowledge and biodiversity are not relics of the past, but essential tools for a sustainable future.

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Photos by Abhijit Mohanty