about three decades ago, Nuka Raja, a farmer of Bhimavaram village in east Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, used to sow only traditional crops. The crop yield was low, but sufficient. In the 1980s, a tobacco company persuaded him to switch to tobacco, promising fertilisers, pesticides and a loan. Many other villagers also shifted from traditional crops to commercial crops. Soon, they lost their native seeds, which was only one of the problems. “Commercial crops have given us only diseases,” says Surya Babu of Tungamadagulu village of the same district.

But these villagers, unlike others, were smart enough to realise the value of traditions. They reverted to age-old practices. “Earlier, we used to have around 26 crop varieties in our region,” says Raja. With the help of a local orga