Old Seed Festival 2022 Devuduvalsa, Near Araku, Andhra Pradesh, India

Devulu Pachari, the founder secretary of SANJEEVINI RURAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY has been working on several community projects in the Eastern Ghats around Araku, Paderu and Chintapalli since 1998. The objective of this festival is to instill a pride in the ethnic seeds of the area which have been nurtured over hundreds of years by tribal farmers. Carefully selected seeds are sorted and stored in ideal conditions in dried goads, mud pots and woven leaf containers in dry rooms at their homes and brought out for display at the Old Seed Festival. Several samples of the produce are also displayed at these festivals. Judges inspect and rate the quality of the seeds and prizes are given to the winners. The best seeds become genetically resilient over time and is important for the food security of the area. The idea of the Patha Vithala Panduga (Old Seed Festival) is to identify, exchange and preserve the best traditional seeds of the area so that they are available for propogation far into the future. The 2022 seed festival held at Devuduvalsa was the 13th festival organised by Sanjeevini.