Question

Explain the functions of the following person.

Rahibai Popere

Answer 1

On 8th March 2018, Rahibai Popere was felicitated by the President of India by the ‘Nari Shakti Award’. This award was given to her for her work in ‘Kalasubai Parisar Biyanee Samvardhan Samiti’. She is popularly known as ‘Beejmata’ (Seed Mother). She has worked for preserving seeds of native cultivars for future generations. Her grandson got ill because of the diet consisting of food made with hybrid varieties of food-grains and vegetables of lesser quality. She thought of native varieties of food grains to overcome the problem.

She decided to grow the food grains and vegetables of native variety to meet her family’s needs. She began to do it and store the seeds of those landraces (Deshi Van). Bitter gourd (Karle), Spinach (palak), Amaranthus Tricolour (tandulja/lal math), Sweet beans (hyacinth beans/pavata), Bitter beans/twisted beans (kadu wal), Ghevada (kidney beans), Groundnut (bhuimoog), Barnyard millet (varai), varieties of rice - Dhavul Bhat, Kalbhat. Ambemohor, Black Gram (udid), etc.

She did not confine her efforts only to her family; but, through micro banking groups (bachat gat) she spread it to the surrounding villages. The movement started by her grew well with the partnership of ‘Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF)’.

Rahibai preserves the seeds in earthen pots. Once filled she closes the pot by plastering its mouth with a mixture of soil and cow dung. This method saves the seeds from insects and ants. Before closing the pot the seeds are covered with a layer of ash and neem leaves. Now in her seed bank, she has a collection of more than 50 landraces of food-grains and 30 landraces of vegetables. She is one of the three Indian women selected as ‘Women of the Year 2018’ by BBC, among 100 women from various countries.