By Valsala Menon
Food security ranks among the most inertial yet pressing problems that our country faces. Indias malnutrition rate had hovered around 20 percent over the past decade and is expected to continue to remain so until 2022. Even though we export agricultural products, storage and distribution are primary obstacles.
Conserving seed is equivalent to conserving biodiversity; conserving knowledge of the seed and its utilization in the process, conserving culture and sustainability. The right kind of crops did not reach our farmers until recently. And there was no practice of agriculture that could help protect biodiversity, the earth and also our farmers.
This is where Navadanya steps in. It was started as a research foundation for science, technology and ecology, a participative research initiative founded by world-renowned scientist and environmentalist Dr. Vandana Shiva in order to provide direction and support to environmental activism.
The main aim of Navadanya is to support local farmers, secure and conserve crops and plants that are facing extinction and make them available through direct markets. It has also created awareness all around about the hazards of genetic engineering, bio piracy and food rights in the face of globalization.
Navadanya has successfully conserved more than 5000 crop varieties including 3000 of rice, 150 of wheat, kidney beans, millets and several varieties of pulses, vegetables and medicinal plants. This organization is in fact, a women-centered movement for the protection of biological and cultural diversity.
Recently, in a letter to the Prime Minister, Vandana Shiva had stressed on the following aspects:
Ignoring the existing alternatives of our indigenous biodiversity and knowledge offers to address the public health emergency of iron deficiency, Indias Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council had gone ahead to sign an agreement with Queensland University, paying 80 million towards the cost of coming out with components to increase the iron content in bananas through genetic engineering. The Queensland University who stands to benefit largely from our generous contribution does not possess a single paper related to iron fortification of bananas! In fact, the entire work on this was done by our own Bhaba Atomic Research Team.
Even though bananas are rich in nutrition, they have only .44 mg of iron content per 100 gm of edible portion. There are other safe and biodiverse alternatives to banana available that can provide rich iron content. Our countrys indigenous biodiversity offers rich sources of iron readily available in amaranth, drum stick, buck wheat, neem, bajra, rice, bran , rice flakes, Bengal gram, cow pea, horse gram, lotus stem, coconut meal, cloves, cumin seeds, maize, mango powder, poppy seeds, tamarind pulp, turmeric, raisins, and much more besides.
Vandana appeals to the Prime Minister to protect our biodiversity and knowledge heritage and to address public health emergency of iron deficiencies in urgent, effective and safe democratic ways. He owes it to the women of our country to empower them, to use our biodiversity to get rid of iron deficiency anemia and malnutrition.
Most importantly, Vandana urges the Prime Minister to cancel the project and agreement between the department of biotechnology and the University of Queensland and instead, to use the money to support a national movement of community gardens and kitchen gardens so that our country is rid of all forms of malnutrition.
A writer by profession, a journalist by intuition and an author by passion. Has worked with several start-ups and acclaimed magazines and dailies and has explored several beats of writing. Formerly Associate editor, Ability Foundation, Adyar, and also Associate editor, Eves Times, a citizen centric magazine. Regular contributor to the Chicken Soup series, with work published in many. Currently penning down her first novel, she is always game for challenges in the literary space. Drop a mail : valsala.menon7@gmail.com