For generations, farmers in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh have followed a practice as old as agriculture itself: saving a portion of the harvest as seed for the next season. A farmer would select the healthiest plants, preserve their seed carefully and pass it on to the next crop. In the process, farmers were not merely saving planting material. They were preserving knowledge—about soil, altitude, rainfall, frost, food, storage and the changing rhythms of the mountain climate.

A traditional seed, therefore, is far more than genetic material. It is a living record of a landscape, carrying the accumulated knowledge of generations about soil, seasons, food and survival. But this inheritance is beginning to fray. The spread of commercial seed, changing food habits, declining crop diversity, migration and the gradual erosion of traditional knowledge are weakening the networks through which seed once moved from farmer to farmer and generation to generation. When a traditional variety disappears from a village, it is not only the seed that is lost; the knowledge surrounding it can disappear as well.

The concern is particularly important at a time when Himalayan agriculture is facing increasing climatic uncertainty. For farmers, climate change is not an abstract global phenomenon. It is experienced through changes in rainfall, temperature, snowfall, water availability, pest incidence and the length of the growing season. An unusual dry spell can affect one crop, excessive rainfall can damage another, while an early frost can destroy a variety that traditionally matured later in the season.

Under such conditions, diversity becomes an important form of insurance. A farming system that depends on a narrow range of varieties can be vulnerable to climatic shocks, while a farming community that maintains several crops and locally adapted varieties has more options.

This is why the question of seed sovereignty deserves greater attention in Himachal Pradesh. Seed sovereignty does not mean rejecting modern agriculture or commercial seed. It means ensuring that farmers retain access to a diverse range of seeds and, importantly, retain the knowledge and ability to save, multiply, exchange and use them. Farmers should have choices rather than becoming completely dependent on external seed supplies every season.

This becomes particularly important in a hill State where agricultural conditions can change dramatically across relatively short distances. A variety that performs well in the lower hills may not necessarily perform equally well at a higher altitude. Soil, temperature, rainfall and the length of the growing season vary considerably across the State. Over generations, farmers have selected varieties that work within these local conditions.

Some traditional varieties may mature early. Others may perform better under moisture stress. Some may have better storage qualities, while others may be preferred for specific foods, fodder or cultural occasions. Not every traditional variety will outperform modern varieties under every condition, but the genetic diversity represented by these crops is an important resource for the future.

Himachal Pradesh is now taking this approach forward through the establishment of Traditional Seed Villages and Community Seed Banks under the Rajiv Gandhi Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana (RGPK3Y). The proposed model is designed to keep traditional seeds within the farming communities that have conserved them, while creating a structured system for their identification, documentation, multiplication, exchange and wider use.

The process will begin with village-level surveys to identify traditional crops and varieties that are still being grown and conserved by farmers. Farmers who have maintained these varieties will be identified and registered. Information will be documented not only about the seed itself but also about the knowledge associated with it—when it is sown, which soil and conditions it prefers, how long it takes to mature, how it is traditionally stored and how it is used in local food and culture.

Farmers who have preserved these varieties over generations will remain at the centre of the process. Their experience will help in identifying, selecting and multiplying suitable seed. The State’s approach will therefore recognise these farmers not merely as beneficiaries, but as custodians of valuable agricultural genetic resources and traditional knowledge.

Selected villages can gradually function as local seed hubs, where traditional varieties are conserved, multiplied, stored, exchanged and made available to other farmers. Community Seed Banks can provide the institutional support needed to maintain this process. Rather than keeping traditional seeds only in distant repositories, the aim is to keep them close to the communities that grow and use them.

The model will follow a simple but continuous cycle: identify, conserve, multiply, store, exchange and grow again. This will ensure that seed conservation remains a living process rather than a one-time exercise in documentation.

Farmer Producer Organisations and Farmer Producer Companies, along with local institutions and technical agencies, can further support seed processing, grading, storage, packaging, value addition and distribution. This can help move traditional seeds beyond individual households and create a more organised community-based seed system.

The larger objective is not to replace modern seed systems, but to give farmers more choices and strengthen their access to locally adapted planting material. By combining farmers’ traditional knowledge with scientific support, community institutions and natural farming, Himachal Pradesh can build a seed system that is locally rooted, economically useful and better prepared for a changing climate.

Himachal’s natural farming programme makes this approach particularly relevant. Since its launch in 2018, the Rajiv Gandhi Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana has sought to promote a farming system that reduces dependence on external inputs and makes greater use of locally available resources and knowledge. According to Department data, 1,60,936 farming families have adopted natural farming either fully or partially. The practice has reached 99.3 per cent of the State’s panchayats and covers more than 26,125 hectares.

These figures are significant, but they raise an important question: can a farming system become genuinely self-reliant if farmers reduce dependence on external fertilisers and pesticides but continue to depend on external sources for seed every season?

Seed is among the first inputs entering a field. If farmers lose the ability to save and multiply their own planting material, a significant part of the production system remains externally dependent.

A locally rooted seed system can therefore complement natural farming. Local seeds, natural farming practices, traditional knowledge and community institutions can together create a more self-reliant agricultural system.

But conservation cannot survive on sentiment alone. Farmers are also economic actors. If a traditional crop requires more labour but offers little economic return, farmers may eventually stop growing it. A variety may have enormous nutritional, cultural or ecological value, but unless farmers see a reason to continue cultivating it, its survival will remain uncertain.

This is why seed conservation must be linked with livelihoods. Himachal Pradesh’s experience with the procurement of naturally farmed produce under Minimum Support Price provides an important policy direction.

The State’s decision to create economic incentives around natural farming reflects an important understanding: environmental sustainability and farmer income cannot be separated.

The same principle should apply to traditional seeds. Farmers conserving indigenous varieties should be able to benefit from value addition, better market linkages and appropriate procurement mechanisms. Farmer Producer Organisations and Farmer Producer Companies can play an important role in cleaning, grading, packaging, processing and marketing traditional crops.

Traditional varieties can also find opportunities through local food systems, farmers’ markets, farm tourism, homestays and value-added products. Himachal’s diverse traditional foods could become part of a larger local food economy, provided the economic benefits reach the farmers and communities that have conserved them.

Climate change makes the seed question even more urgent. Farmers can no longer assume that weather conditions experienced by previous generations will remain unchanged. Rainfall patterns are becoming more uncertain, temperatures are changing and extreme weather events can disrupt traditional cropping calendars.

In such circumstances, genetic diversity can provide options. If one variety performs poorly in an unusual season, another may perform better. If the growing season becomes shorter, an early-maturing variety could become more useful. If water becomes scarce, varieties that perform under lower moisture conditions could assume greater importance.

This does not mean that every traditional variety is automatically climate-resilient. Scientific assessment is essential. Agricultural institutions can help test and characterise traditional varieties to identify useful traits related to drought, frost, maturity period, disease tolerance, nutritional quality and other characteristics.

The opportunity lies in bringing scientific research and traditional knowledge together. Farmers know which varieties have survived local conditions over generations. Scientists can help understand why. Community seed banks can conserve them. Farmer organisations can multiply and market them. Such collaboration can turn traditional seed conservation into a forward-looking climate adaptation strategy.

The role of young people will be equally important. Migration has weakened the informal systems through which agricultural knowledge was traditionally transferred. When younger generations leave farming, the chain through which seed and knowledge move from one generation to another can break.

Seed villages could provide a way of reconnecting young people with agriculture. Documentation, seed cataloguing, digital mapping, processing, branding and local food enterprises can create new opportunities around traditional crops.

Young people could document the stories behind local varieties, record cultivation practices and map the farmers who have preserved them. Schools and colleges in rural areas could also be connected with local seed conservation initiatives. Such efforts would make seed conservation a living activity rather than a museum exercise.

However, the success of Community Seed Banks will depend on long-term institutional support. Establishing a storage structure or collecting seed packets once is not enough. Seeds need to be multiplied regularly, tested for germination, stored under appropriate conditions and returned to farmers for cultivation.

A variety that remains permanently locked inside a storage facility may be preserved genetically, but it is no longer part of a living farming system. The real test of a community seed bank is therefore whether farmers continue to use it.

Himachal Pradesh could also consider developing a comprehensive traditional seed registry documenting varieties according to agro-climatic zones. Such a registry could record not only the biological characteristics of a crop but also its traditional uses, cultivation practices, nutritional qualities and the communities that have conserved it. This information could become valuable for farmers, researchers and policymakers as climate conditions continue to change.

The broader significance of the Seed Village approach goes beyond agriculture. Seeds are connected with food, culture and identity.

A particular maize variety may be associated with a traditional dish. A pulse may be grown for a local festival. A grain may have been part of a household’s winter food for generations. When such varieties disappear, a small part of the cultural landscape disappears with them.

That is why seed conservation should not be reduced to a technical exercise. For Himachal Pradesh, the opportunity is to build a community-based seed system in which biodiversity conservation, natural farming, climate adaptation and farmer livelihoods reinforce one another.

The State has already recognised that sustainable agriculture requires reducing dependence on external inputs. Strengthening farmers’ access to locally adapted planting material is a logical next step.

The objective should not be to replace modern seed systems, but to create a more diverse and balanced system in which farmers have choices.

A farmer who has access to multiple locally adapted varieties is better equipped to respond to uncertainty. A village that maintains diverse crops has greater resilience. A State that protects its agricultural genetic diversity has a larger pool of resources from which future climate adaptation strategies can be developed.

Ultimately, the success of Himachal Pradesh’s Seed Village initiative should not be measured only by the number of villages covered, seed varieties documented or seed banks established.

The real measure will be whether those seeds continue to live in the fields. A traditional variety is truly conserved when one farmer saves it, another farmer receives it, a young person learns about it and the next generation continues to grow it.

For Himachal’s farmers, seed sovereignty is about retaining the ability to decide what they grow, what they save and what they pass on. For the State, it is about protecting agricultural biodiversity at a time when climate change is making farming increasingly uncertain.

The seeds conserved by Himalayan farmers over generations are not simply remnants of an agricultural past. They may also be among the resources needed to navigate the agricultural future.

If Himachal Pradesh can keep those seeds in the hands of its farming communities, in its fields and within its food systems, it will be preserving far more than heritage. It will be strengthening the resilience and sovereignty of its farmers for a changing climate.

Dr. Kiran is an Assistant Professor at CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, working in the areas of sustainable agriculture, local seed conservation and natural farming. She is actively engaged in promoting the conservation and use of indigenous seed varieties, encouraging farmers to preserve local crop diversity and traditional agricultural knowledge.