Do you have Paani Makai?
अहँ, छैन
No we don’t.
The sun was warm over our heads, the air sweetened our breaths, and a crisp view of the horizon bore hill after hill of full green forest, and bright yellow fields of rapeseed. It was the kind of day that made searching easy.[break]
कुनै पानी मकै यहाँ पाईन्छ?
Any Paani Makai here?
पाईन्दैन
No.
Farmers from across south Lalitpur had gathered at Ghot Bhanjyang in Dalchoki Village in the final days of 2012 to display their local seed abundance. Every stall was decorated with bulging vegetables – pumpkin, squash, banana, radish, bottle gourd, tamarillo – and clear plastic packets filled with seeds hanging on lines of strings – corn, finger millet, rice, soybean, green bean, buckwheat, mustard, and pea. Each pouch was labelled – Bihebar Panhelo Makai, Dhinde Makai, Rato Makai, Putali Makai, Murali Makai.
पानी मकै?
Paani Makai?
छ
Yes.
At the far corner, Krishna Man Lama and his family had only just begun to unload their bags. “We’re late,” said Lama, staple in hand. “It took us two hours and a half to walk here.” He waved in the direction of the Paani Makai.
Named for its distinguishing trait, Paani Makai is a local corn variety that grows best along low-lying riverbanks where there’s plenty of water. Planting season is at the beginning of the Nepali New Year, a few months before the heavy paddy-feeding rains arrive. Maturing through the rainy months at marginal speed, its ears fill out in time to harvest five months later, around Dashain.
Its kernels are plump and pale, with slight, white tails. When heated, they explode into soft, spacious popcorn, “full of carbohydrates,” added Lama. If not for the determined tending of farmers like Lama, Paani Makai could now be extinct.
The fair at Dalchoki was organised by the local Dalchoki Community Development Committee, with support from the non-governmental organisation Group of Helping Hands ‘SAHAS’ Nepal, to recognize the efforts of farmers, and encourage further conservation of their local agro-biodiversity.
Over a hundred villagers, consisting of almost 40 farmer groups, and one healthy but nervous goat, had arrived early that winter morning to participate in the festivities and compete for the prize of the best seed stall, and song and dance performance.
Farming communities across the country are ceding to quick and high-yielding varieties that suit consumer tastes. And in that race to the market, local varieties often lose out to improved ones.
But at the fair, modern isn’t pitted against traditional. In fact, there’s hardly any mention of hybrids or other pGgt hft. The day is more about praising the qualities of local seeds as tough contenders in the country’s agricultural future. In the words of the winning singers from Chaughare village:
पहिलेदेखि लाको बालि रैथाने जात जगाउ
जैविक विविधता आफै अघि बढाउ
जलवायु परिवर्तन भाकोछ वातावरण विग्रदै गाकोछ
कुरा यो सानो तर किसानको घाउ
Let’s revive our own strains, the crops of yore
Let’s help local biodiversity increase forth
The climate’s changing, the environment degrading –
Insignificant this may seem, but it’s the farmers’ bane.
Local seeds have many qualities. Some have evolved resistance against harsh environmental conditions, like Gujmuje Rayo Saag, that can withstand frost.
“One leaf feeds a family of four,” said Man Bahadur Lopchan of Nallu Village, spreading its folds like duck feet. This specialisation could be of increasing importance as more acute each curve of the weather becomes.
Other seeds are recommended for their easy processing. For example, Rato Makai only needs to be ground once, and its volume increases when crushed to cornmeal. Its flour makes a tasty Dhido and soft Rotis.
Seto Jau, or white barley, is saved for religious purposes. “We need it when someone dies,” explained Jon Tamang of Chaughare.
Many local varieties are pest-resistant, and respond curiously to chemical fertilizers. For example, cornstalks shoot straight up, but without the strength to maintain those new heights, eventually bend over. Farmers in and around Dalchoki place heavy emphasis on the health benefits of not using pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Of course, local seeds sometimes also serve as home remedies. Tite Phapar, bitter buckwheat, lowers blood pressure. And Suryamukhi flowers blow the chilling winds out of the body.
But the husk of knowledge that grows around these seeds is often the first to fall away.
That’s why Khadga Prasad Ghimire from Ikudol Village seems almost radical for having transmitted all his experience and understanding of herbal medicine to his daughter Shanta.
“I’m the only one who’s saving this knowledge,” said Ghimire. From indigestion to jaundice, infertility and throat pain, he treats the ailments of at least fifteen individuals a month.
“Local seeds contain the essential ingredients we need,” asserted Lama. And stall after stall, the relevance of these seeds to the climate, comforts, rituals and tastes of people in Dalchoki and its surrounding villages seemed irrefutable. “If they were good enough for our grandparents, why shouldn’t they be good enough for us?” said Sushila Timilsina, also from Ikudol.
The singers bade us farewell in a similar tone:
लोप हुन लाग्यो हाम्रो खेतीजन्य बारी
नराखौं है खेतबारिलाई अब बाँझो पारी
स्वीकार दिनोस् यो हाम्रो सन्देशलाई
विदा हुन्छौ“ नमस्कार सबैलाई
कुरा यो सानो तर किसानको घाउ
आउ साथी सबै मिलि बिउ बिजन लगाउ
कुरा यो सानो तर किसानको घाउ
आऊ साथी सबै मिलि बिउ बिजन लगाउ
As our arable lands rapidly shrink
Let’s no more leave our fields fallow
Heed our advice, accept our message
And grant us your leave, with greetings to all
Insignificant it may seem, but this is the farmers’ bane –
Friends, come – let’s join to sow these seeds
Insignificant this may seem, but it’s the farmers’ fate
Friends, come – let’s join to sow these seeds.
Many villages across Nepal aren’t as tightly bound to their seeds as Dalchoki, and may never hear such familiar song from the children they bear.
The writer is freelance environment and science journalist.
smriti.mallapaty@gmail.com
Song translation by: Prawin Adhikary
Related story
Farmers unable to sow seeds
