Indigenous seeds

Meet five extraordinary changemakers transforming Indian agriculture with bold ideas, indigenous wisdom, and innovations that are quietly reshaping the way India farms, eats, and thrives. This September, Optum Presents The Better India Showcase, supported by the M3M Foundation, is honouring their impact.

This World Photography Day, step inside India’s fields through portraits of farmers who are saving seeds, reviving traditions, and growing crops that change lives.

Darlapudi Ravi was an assistant general manager at a cement industry when he realised how modern dietary practices lead to a variety of diseases. Here's how this realisation motivated him to build a seed bank.

Today, spread on a 2.5-acre plot lies a five-layered model economically-viable and sustainable farm, the fruit of Akash's labour.

It’s been more than two decades and he continues to grow chemical-free paddy. But that’s not the only reason the retired teacher-turned-organic farmer is famous.

Krishikala is a venture spearheaded by Seema Prasad to create awareness about the art form and train rural women artisans to craft gourds into beautiful showpieces and collectibles.

With the help of the GREEN Foundation and Mindtree,these women farmers launched Janadhanya - a website to sell seeds online.

Permaculture could be the alternate way of living and growing that can be a possible game changer in our race towards a better future.

Syed Ghani Khan has dedicated his life to discovering and growing indigenous varieties of paddy. He has also managed to dissuade many rural youngsters from migrating to the cities and encouraged them to take up agriculture as an honourable profession.