Navdanya Seed Bank

Communities all over the globe have cultivated knowledge and found ways to derive their livelihood from nature’s bounty of diversity in both wild and domesticated forms.
To conserve the agro-biodiversity Navdanya started establishing community seed banks and identifying seed keepers / Seed producers in different agro-ecological zones of India.
- These community seed banks are a step towards the identification and conservation of important traditional seed varieties.
- These also help in orienting the agricultural community towards conserving and cultivating the important, highly nutritive traditional crops and varieties.
Till date Navdanya has set up 150 community seed banks in 22 states of India in the last 30 years.
Navdanya has also trained and created awareness amongst about 750,000 farmers in seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped set up the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country.
Established a conservation and training center at village Ramgarh in Doon Valley, in Sikandrabad in U.P. and Balasore in Orissa.
More than 4000 rice varieties have been collected, saved and conserved by Navdanya in the last 30 years.
Forgotten food crops such as millets, pseudo-cereals and pulses have been conserved and promoted by Navdanya which were pushed out by the green revolution and expanding monocultures

Navdanya

Navdanya is an Earth Centric, Women centric and Farmer led movement for the protection of Biological and cultural Diversity.
Practise the philosophy of Earth Democracy as one Earth Family ( Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.) with no separations between nature and humans and no hierarchies between species, culture, gender, race and faiths.
Conserved our rich seed heritage of nutritious, climate resilient food in more than 150 community seed banks freely saving, sharing and breeding our native varieties.
Navdanya means “nine seeds” (symbolising protection of biological and cultural diversity) and also the “new gift” (for seed as commons, based on the right to save and share seeds In today’s context of biological and ecological destruction, seed savers are the true givers of seed.
This gift or “dana” of Navdanya (nine seeds) is the ultimate gift – it is a gift of life, of heritage and continuity that we bring to you through more than 3 decades of service to the Earth and humanity.