Mandya farmer’s quest to preserve agrarian heritage
The Hindu
Bore Gowda has won the Plant Genome Saviour Award
A farmer from Mandya has bagged the Plant Genome Saviour Award in recognition of his efforts to conserve the indigenous variety of paddy and agrarian heritage.
Meet S. Bore Gowda, a farmer from Shivalli in Mandya district, whose journey from a farmer engaged in farming practices that focused on use of chemical fertilizers to that of a rice conservator and seed saver, has won him a fan following.
It was an accidental fall and an injury in 1989 that was the turning point for Mr. Bore Gowda who was advised surgery. But he refused, got himself discharged against medical advice and took to yoga which gradually healed his injury. “While studying and practising yoga I was not only cured of the pain and injury but learnt that the food we eat also has a bearing on our health. As I delved deeper into the topic, I realised that the food we grow is laced with chemicals and hence switched over to organic and natural methods of farming,” he said.