BIHAN PARAB HELD TO POPULARISE TRADITIONAL SEEDS
Thursday, 01 January 2015
| PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar
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two-day Bihan Parab was held in Bargarh to populaise traditional paddy
varieties and farm practices.
“Since 2008 we have been
organising this Bihan Parab to popularise, propagate and promote the
traditional paddy in our area. We are not in favour of use of company seeds.
The high-yielding seeds require excess use of chemical fertilizer and
insecticide, leading to damage of soil and its ecology. Our traditional seeds
are drought resistant and eco-friendly. It is wrong to say that traditional
seeds cannot give high production, said Siba Prasad Sahu of Ahimsha club,
Bhutibahal, which organised the show. This year we observed the Bihan Parab for
two days on December 27 and 28, with support from Millets Network of India
(MINI) and have displayed 100 traditional varieties of paddy collected from
farmers, besides six varieties of minor millets including Shari, Kudo, Mandia,
Gurjee and others, informed Sahu.
The traditional paddy
varieties used in the region in past include Karni Phool, Harishankar,
AaakashPatri, Dhob Sariaan, Suna Kathi, Radha Jugal, Aakul, Dahikhul,
Juhli, Dengberi, Kumarmani, Rani Saheba, Kamal Shankar, Rani Siiali, Suna
Harin, Sunamukhi and many others. “Our forefathers were strong and stout as
they consumed foods of crops which were grown without chemical fertilizer. The
chemical fertiliser has damaged our ecology including killing friendly insects
and small fish, gholi, and earthworm which increase fertility of soil. Hence,
it is high time we got back to those farm seed types and practices,” said Kosli
poet Haldhar Nag.
Bargarh BJD MP Dr Prabash
Kumar Singh while appreciating the effort of the Ahinsha Club, Bhutibahal in
propagating traditional farm practices, assured all support from the
Government. He also supported for opening traditional seed banks in villages to
preserve and protect paddy seeds. Bargarh Zilla Parishad president Gitaanjali
Puta inaugurated the two- day BihanParab. 25 Kosali poets those who have
written poems of traditional paddy seeds were honoured. A quiz competition on
traditional seed and minor millet was held and successful ones got
certificates.
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