Local agrobiodiversity is closely linked with the lives, livelihoods and the culture of the rural communities. Even today, agricultural biodiversity is concentrated in regions where small farms still predominate. Though much of the diversity is lost owing to unsustainable models of development, globalised agriculture, negligence of traditional agricultural practices, demographic changes, destructive policies etc., there are small localized initiatives of communities that are striving to restore and nurture agro biodiversity. This issue of LEISA India includes such initiatives and experiences.
Content
Editorial 5 Agriculture, biodiversity and communities: does it add up? Gine Zwart, Sarah Doornbos and Willy Douma 8 Cultivating biodiversity P V Satheesh 11 Conservation by communities: The CBM approach Pitambar Shrestha and Sajal Sthapit 14 Local seed systems: For enhancing food security and farm resilience M Karthikeyan and C S P Patil 18 Interview: Phrang Roy: “Link biodiversity with the pleasures of food” Janneke Bruil 20 Towards food sovereignty: Millets based bio-diverse farming system Prasant Mohanty 23 Seed sovereignty for food security and livelihood improvement Sanjay M Patil 26 Adapting to climate variation through crop diversification Eshwer Kale and Marcella D’souza 29 Evolutionary populations: Living gene banks in farmers’ fields Maryam Rahmanian, Maede Salimi, Khadija Razavi, Dr Reza Haghparast and Dr Salvatore Ceccarelli 31 The Narayana Reddy Column Biodiverse farms are sustainable farms 32 New Books 33 Sources 34 Seed festivals promote seed conservation: The Nel Thiruvizha in Adirengam Sreedevi Lakshmi Kutty
