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Social property

  • 30/08/2005

Social property Sarojamma is 38, her husband Siromani 43. The couple from the Madiga community, a Scheduled Caste, have about seven acres of rocky land in Pyalaram village in Jharasangham mandal of Andhra Pradesh's Medak district. Sarojamma used to run the village's seed bank, created with the help of the Deccan Development Society, an NGO. But two years ago, she dismantled it. "There was enough seed going around in the village's seed exchange system,' she says. How does that work? "Before the harvest, we check out all the standing crop. If we like the crop of a certain farmer, we provide free labour at the time of harvest. In return, we get good seed.'

In times of distress, seeds are exchanged for free. "Three years ago, most of the village's jowar (sorghum) crop was destroyed after torrential rain,' Sarojamma recalls. "There was no seed left. I went to my aunt's for a social function. Their crop was quite good. I asked for some jowar seed. She gave me some from her stock.' It is common for women to handle seeds in Indian farming households. Sarojamma keeps her stock with great care, to protect it from pests.

Labouring on the farm has taught her seed selection and seed storage methods. She is a plant breeder in her own right, as are most other farmers of developing countries where industrialised cultivation doesn't hold sway. Why doesn't Sarojamma buy better quality seeds from the nearby Zaheerabad market? "I've seen several of those varieties fail. I don't feel comfortable buying things in a packet. Who knows what's inside and how it was prepared? They are expensive and they require expensive inputs.' Sarojamma has heard tell of indebted farmers killing themselves after their high-input crops failed. "Nobody's died in our area. Ours is a poor area. We aren't into expensive farming.'

She wishes she had assured irrigation.

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