Become a Guardians of Indigenous seeds
📜 Ancient Breeding Mastery of Indian Farmers
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India's Indigenous paddy Farmers developed rice with specialized traits—diabetes-friendly, anemia-treating, ADHD-calming, Alzheimer’s-slowing, and even varieties that could stop deaths due to pneumonia and diarrhea due to its rich nutritional properties. Indigenous rice is also proven to be anti oxidant powerhouse loaded with micro nutrition and rare phytonutrients that are need for a healthy body and mind.
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Our Indigenous traditional farmers were also able to breed aromatic rice which gave unique pleasant smell to the rice. They were able to breed rice that doesn't need cooking at all. Just after soaking for a few minutes, the rice will be ready to eat. They were able to breed rice which is healthy for lactating mothers. They were able to breed rice varieties that could improve male sex hormone, testosterone levels. The list goes on.
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Farmers were also able breed paddy varieties that were flood tolerant, saline resistant paddy that could be grown near sea shores, drought resistant paddy that can be grown without much water. Many villages in India had breeded their own paddy seeds that grow well according to village local conditions that are resilent to soil and other local geographic and climatic conditions. Such was the diversity and the genetic wealth of India's traditional paddy. It thousands of years and many generation of farmers to develop such a sophisticated diversity of Indigenous rice.
📉 The Crisis of Genetic Erosion:​
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From an estimated 200,000 Indigenous paddy seed varieties in 1950s, fewer than 4,000 remain with farmers. Over 98% of Traditional paddy seeds are extinct within just 65 years of the “Green Revolution”.
Why should you care?
​Genetically modified cotton seeds were introduced in India in 2002. Before that, farmers cultivated Indigenous cotton seeds. These cotton seeds were breeded and developed according to local geographic conditions. These indigenous cotton seeds doesnt require much external inputs like fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide. They grew naturally with least input as it happened for centuries. But, Genetically modified cotton required more fertilizer and more pesticides. This the farmer has to get from the market. For example, one acre of unirrigated cotton in 2002 required Rs. 2500- 4000 as their input cost. In 2014, one acre of unirrigated land cotton required 18,000 to 20,000. But the prices in market didnt increase substantially. This led to loss and farmers are pushed into the debt. When the debt increased substantialy​ farmer has no other option but to take away his life. Till 2002, cotton seeds were free of cost. Now the price varies between Rs.2000- 4000 as we have lost all indigenous cotton seeds. Bt cotton seeds cant be saved for future usage. Everytime, farmer has to buy it from the shop since the seed has been patented by Bayer, Earth biggest agri- corporate.​
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This will be the future of agriculture. If all indigenous seeds are lost from the conservers, corporates monopoly of seeds will make us depend on corporates for the food. 19,000 indigenous paddy seeds were collected by Dr.Richhariya and was stored in Indira Gnadhi Agriculture University, Delhi. But, after his death, these seeds were handed over by Indian Government to Bayer, Planet's biggest agri-corporate. Now, when these indigenous seeds are wiped out, these corporation will bring these same seeds while patent it to make profits out of it. When we lose access to our indigenous seeds we lose access to our food.
Hope Grows One season at a Time
Richhariya Foundation is about conserving this agriculture heritage of India. Not all seeds are lost. Not all knowledge is lost. We still have 1% of hope left.
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Some varieties have survived.
Some farmers never gave up.
Some people continued saving seeds.
Some remote indigenous Communities are still growing these seeds
Nature has given us another chance.
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At the Richhariya Foundation, we believe that conservation does not happen behind glass or inside vaults. A seed is truly conserved only when it is planted, cared for, harvested, saved, and sown again. Every successful season gives an indigenous variety another chance to thrive, adapt, and continue its journey.
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This is the hope we see every day—in a tiny seed that germinates after decades, in a forgotten variety returning to the field, in a farmer sharing traditional knowledge, and in young people discovering the richness of India's agricultural heritage for the first time.
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Our work is not about preserving memories. It is about creating a living future where indigenous seeds continue to grow, feed communities, strengthen biodiversity, and inspire generations to come.
The journey is already underway.
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Every field we cultivate, every seed we regenerate, every story we document, and every season we complete is proof that conservation works.
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Now, we invite you to become part of that story.
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Together, we can ensure that these living treasures continue to grow—not just in our fields, but across the landscapes and communities that will depend on them in the years ahead.
To understand the present, one must look at the past. India was a land of civilisation for atleast 5000 years. Recent, archialogical excavation in Tamil nadu proves that Tamil nadu, India has used Iron 5,000 years ago contemporary with Sumerian Civilisation. Even in Indus valley civilisation, agriculture was flourishing with cultivation of paddy and wheat documented. Till 20th century, agriculture was at the centre of all human activity. So, agriculture was naturally a flourishing occupation. Agriculture was traditionally carried out with near zero external input with indigenous seeds that were passed down for generations after generations.
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But after 1990s, India saw a drastic increase in farmer suicide. More than 3.9 lakh farmers and agricultural labourers died by suicide between 1995 and 2023. This roughly translates into one farmer kills himself for every one hour for past 30 years. This is Indian Governments data. Experts like P Sainath says this is an underreport and many farmer suicide is not counted due to various errors in data collection across India.
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When we look deeper into the data
But since Green Revolution started in India, agriculture was turned into more input based. External inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, Hybrid seeds were introduced. With the introductions of market economy i after 1991, Indian agriculture was pushed more into market fluctuations.