Book Review | Mother Earth, Sister Seed: Travels through India’s Farmlands

Book: Mother Earth, Sister Seed: Travels through India’s Farmlands
Author: Lathika George
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 280
Price: 699

If your bearings have been urban, without much agricultural exposure, the title ‘Mother Earth, Sister Seed: Travels through India’s Farmlands’ is likely to evoke images of farms with a pair of bullocks or tractor ploughing the field, farmers and farm hands bent over sowing seeds, and so on. And sure, farms on plains are often like that. But author Lathika George’s farm visits – described over 11 chapters, each dedicated to a different region in a different state spanning the north, south, east, west and even the north east of India – are an adventurous mix: a fishing village on the southern tip of India separated from Sri Lanka by a river, West Bengal’s Sundarbans where honey collectors risk their lives to procure the golden liquid, mountains of Sikkim plush with organic farming experiments, and so on. Several places, like Auroville, that don't get dedicated chapters, still see detailed coverage wherever relevant. In doing so, the book at once reminds us how special India is for its diversity, and exposes us to the diversity of farming methods that have evolved and been adapted as per climate, terrain and availability of water and other natural resources.

The chapters though, don't merely zoom into her experiences or the regions' agricultural activities, they unravel the place's culture and traditions, natural beauty and the locals’ relationship with nature, wisdom passed down generations and a lot more. So Navratri, generally seen as religious, for farmers signifies the end of monsoons, a time when the earth is fertile and fields are ripening, and so garba (from Sanskrit garbha, meaning womb) is performed to celebrate earth, the eternal mother.

After a line noting the region and state, each chapter enlists its main produce, followed by italicised text (a line to a para long) capturing the spirit of point the landscape designer wants to focus on – sometimes done through a phrase, sometimes a legend or fable and sometimes even a poem. What comes after in ‘bold’ is the background – of the people, the place, the history…anything George deems fit. Her transition from personal to informative is not always smooth. And though the consistent formatting of chapters makes it seem like the book follows a certain pattern, when you pore over the content and its sequence, you realise there isn’t. Due to this variance, while some chapters are page turners with great aural and visual quality, others can be sleep-inducing, and while some seem overly romanticised and less current, others strike a brilliant balance. Then every chapter has a sub chapter at the end that may summarise the main chapter (like talking about all types of coffee following the chapter on Coorg) or may carry particulars that are unrelated to the main chapter, but pertinent to farming in general (like a study of India's granaries that follows the chapter on Kutch).

Sometimes this randomness coupled with density of information can make it a challenging read, but the content is compelling and for relief there lovely B&W pictures and sketches.

What's most refreshing though is that in George’s book, farming is a science and the farmer is a scientist, who keeps meticulous records, refers to farming almanacs and books (Krishi Geetha, Vyavasaya Panchangam and several others holding invaluable scientific knowledge on farming activities), constantly experiments and has historically been responsible for domesticating several wild species of foods. Today too, s/he works on crop improvement despite paucity of resources, season after season, against all odds. The book's display of their entrepreneurship, achievements and risk-taking ability reminds us of something vital – the crucial role of the farmer in the evolution of mankind, especially true if you agree with the old adage: 'You are what you eat'. George also introduces readers to the farmer-poet and peppers the pages with poetry; some of theirs, some on them. In Mother Earth, Sister Seed...the farmer gets his/her due, as its hero, as 'the hero'.

The farms, farmers or practices she lauds and cites are not ones that have chemical factories for fields, but those of the past and present, who’ve held on to the wisdom and ways of yore, when natural methods meant all food was organic. These farmers are important even today as they know effective and empathetic solutions for man-animal conflicts. For instance, in Coorg, where elephants are known to thrash around estates, instead of high voltage fences we now see, farmers would dig trenches and sow in them millets to keep trouble away. Even today, many solve the pest problem by following the cosmic (solar and lunar) calendars. George also features those who carry the spirit of harmony of their predecessors, but find new methods and technology to further the cause of agriculture, sustainably. Among many such examples, there's an enterprising chickoo farmer in Dahanu, who started a chickoo auction so farmers get fair prices, and then farmers in Wayanad, who now have a dedicated radio channel to share information. The book itself has an entire sub chapter on new, useful technology from precision-maps and cloud-based solutions to windmills that also pump water.

For the curious and enthusiastic, the book brings you up to speed about everything from past plunders — be it by the Britishers, Green Revolution and BT Cotton — as well as corrections and advances being made today such as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault beyond the Arctic in Norway, India's own seed-breeder Jai Prakash Singh, who hunts down ones that are not only fast growing, but also drought resistant; our progressive laws in the battle for seed democracy; rice diversity blocks set up by some visionary scientists in a few states, including Chhattisgarh; and likes of First Agro that are making organic cultivation a scalable reality.

At a time when drought and farmer suicides make the most headlines in agriculture, the book gives hope through stories of old and new individual farmers, farming communities, NGOs, students...still holding the fort in every state. There's a chapter on our pride that is Sikkim, India's only organic state that proves that the organic dream isn't a utopian one, but achievable with political will – the state aids farmers with workshops and also deters them from using pesticides by charging transgressors penalty of one lakh rupees. There isn't much more by the way of statistics, but the few figures mentioned – 475 million farms worldwide and 78% Indian farmers still function in harmony with nature; India's small farms produce 41% of its food grains without requisite support; use of agrochemicals has increased 170 times in the last 50 years, etc – serve as clarion call for support to small farms and sustainable methods.

British author Lemn Sissay's poem in book, conveys it best: 
What if we got it wrong?
What if we weakened ourselves getting strong?
What if our wanting more was making less?
What if all thiswasn't progress?

George's own leanings towards small farms come from personal interactions with farmers as well as influence of veteran environmentalist Vandana Shiva, whose books she's read and Beej Vidyapeeth she's attended for a workshop. The explorations and research began when she decided to restart her own (nearly 1 acre) kitchen garden in Palani Hills (Kerala) the organic way. From ideas of Masanobu Fukuoka and others to advice of farmers, George has been experimenting with it all, by creating different patches for each on her farm. Her immense research not only runs through the main narrative, but also shows in the 30 pages of notes and index.

About 50 pages explain traditional farming systems, calendars, practices and cropping patterns (did you know of Kashmir's floating vegetable gardens?), traditional water management systems (like khazans of Goa), and agrarian rituals and celebrations. While very informative, this section reads like a text book. You'd be better off referring to it when inspiration strikes and you need guidance. But the farmers' recipes that follow, you must try. Very simple and open to adjustment, they reflect, as George rightly indicates, the pragmatism of cultivators, who know better than anyone, that adapting is the name of the game. Showcasing their dietary habits and foraged foods, George also deliberately makes a case for redefining what food is. The timing couldn't have been better given how the slow food movement is spreading and ideas such as farm to fork, local, seasonal and organic are beginning to regain ground.