Paper short abstract:

The paper is a case study of community led revival of local crop diversity in tribal blocks in India. Conservation of locally-adapted landraces is one strategy farmers are adopting to achieve food and seed sovereignty and create agrarian alternatives in times of economic and environmental crisis.

Paper long abstract:

Genetic diversity is a key element in farmer's livelihood strategies in areas under high ecological and economic stresses. However, the pressures for yield-intensification, advent of intellectual property rights and increased influence of multinationals in local seed markets, combined with unpredictable climate, mark a crisis of eroding of agricultural biodiversity and diminishing farmers' role in the reproduction of planting materials.

The paper is documenting the efforts of farmers in a tribal district in India, to reaffirm their autonomy by turning to traditional, local varieties as an alternative to mainstream agriculture. Conservation of landraces showing increased resistance to stress, yet retaining high nutritive values, is one strategy they are adopting to achieve food and seed sovereignty, in times of shifting weather patterns and unpredictable rains. The paper is discussing how using legal instruments such as the disputed concept of "Farmers' Rights", farmers initiate community led revival of local crop diversity.