native seeds

In a village where water is scarce and the land is unforgiving, Sundaram Verma found a way to grow trees using only one litre of water per plant. His simple method has helped over 60,000 trees survive drought — and inspired farmers across India to rethink how change takes root.

Dr Naveen Kumar from Chennai helps 5,000+ people grow fruits and veggies at home using organic methods passed down from his grandfather to fight food adulteration.

Dr Naveen Kumar cultivates native seeds on his terrace and distributes them to patients and others, motivating them to grow fruits and vegetables at home.

Cheruvayal Raman was pained to see native rice varieties lose to hybrid seeds. So, he started cultivating native paddy and preserving their seeds. Watch his journey

Content with the life choices the duo has made, KP Illias and Shamika Mone are on the pursuit of engaging more farmers across the country in organic farming.

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.

Thanks to her passion to imbibe the best practices based on climate, resources, location, and topography, the land that once lay dry and sandy with no earthworms, bees, and butterflies is now rich and fertile.

From native varieties of brinjal that yield 24 kg on a single plant, to a rich diversity of tomatoes, chilli, black carrot, multi-coloured corn, sorghum, sunflower, pomegranate, wood apple, wheat and even millet, over 800 heirloom varieties are preserved in their unique Seed Bank since 18 years.