HYDERABAD: At a time when native varieties of crops are being rapidly replaced by modern engineered crop varieties so much so that getting seeds of native varieties becomes almost impossible, Jheri, a small village in Kerameri mandal in Asifabad district, is contributing in a great way to conserving as many as 26 native varieties of different pulses and cereals like green gram (pesara/moong), black gram (minumu/urad), Sorghum (jonna), pigeon pea (kandi/tur), safflower.
When contacted, Sheikh Dastagir, member-secretary of Jheri Biodiversity Management Committee, said that they have started a seed bank of the native varieties of crops. “The seed bank has seeds of close to 26 native varieties of crops which have been grown in the region for centuries. The seeds are stored in earthen pots. The seed bank is open to anyone who wants to cultivate the native varieties. It is usually a barter system on which the seed bank works. Local farmers take some quantity of seeds from us and give back seeds of higher quantity. Some people from Andhra Pradesh are also showing interests in some of our native seeds,” he said.
Two native seed varieties from Jheri, a pigeon pea variety called Erra Machhala Kandulu and a sorghum variety known locally as Vayunowka Jonna, have been registered with the Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Rights Authority of India. Registration of another native seed, known as Balinta Pesallu, a variety of green gram, is under process.
It is for this and other such initiatives taken up by Jheri BMC that it will be awarded India Biodiversity Award(IBA) this year along with another collective from Telangana, Sangham, a voluntary association of women formed by Deccan Development Society which focuses on conserving agri-biodiversity.
The India Biodiversity Awards are conferred by National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and are instituted by the Union ministry of environment, forest & climate change in association with the United Nations Development Programme. NBA celebrates the International Day of Biological Diversity (IBD) every year in various cities and this year, which is IBD’s 25th anniversary, NBA is celebrating the day along with Telangana State Biodiversity Board in Hyderabad.
Number of species recorded by Jheri BMC
The number of species of various flora and fauna recorded by Jheri Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) in its PBR are 84 agricultural crops (8 millets, 46 leafy vegetables, 21 roots tubers and 9 pulses), 32 fruits, 13 fodder/grass varieties, 101 weeds, 10 pests of crops, 28 medicinal plants, 7 cattle, 3 goats, 2 sheep, 1 poultry, 20 fish, 89 wild/ornamental plants, 29 mammals, 19 reptiles, 86 butterflies and 117 birds
All local bodies should form BMCs
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 mandates that all local bodies in the country form a Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) which will have the responsibility of conserving and documenting various local varieties of crops, fruits, vegetables, breeds of animals, birds, micro-organisms, basically any biological aspect in jurisdiction of local body, by chronicling details in a People’s Biodiversity Register