after her marriage, Zaharabi Mujavar carried a handful of green-colored tiny seeds. “Four decades later, I realize how important that step was,” she says. 

Over the years, these indigeneous moong (green gram beans) seed varieties have become extremely rare. Since childhood, she has been cultivating this crop every June, which harvests in three months. 

Green gram, a native of Central Asia, contains proteins, vitamins, dietary fibers, minerals, and low fat, making it a powerful lentil. It is also considered an antioxidant and helps reduce inflammation. Moreover, the harvest residues are a nutritional feed for the cattle and can even be used as fertilizers. 

It has been a part of her daily diet for six decades now, especially in the form of sprout beans for breakfast, and green gram curry or khichdi (an Indian dish made with rice and moong lentils) during lunch. 

Today, 68-year-old Mujavar sows four kilograms of seeds on half an acre of land in her Rajapur village in Maharashtra, India, yielding a harvest of 50 kilograms. Over the years, India has significantly improved its green gram production, becoming the largest cultivator. It reached 3.55 million metric tonnes in 2023, from 0.01 million in 2000-01. Since 2007, over 40 hybrid varieties have been released in the Indian states to boost production, evident from the numbers. 

“Often, the younger farmers ask me to shift to hybrid varieties, claiming I can double my existing harvest. However, I never shifted because the traditional variety not only tastes better but also doesn’t require any use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers,” she shares. To enhance the strength of the crop, she adds cattle manure as a substitute for harmful chemical fertilizers. Since the traditional variety is drought-resistant and can grow in drylands, it has helped her save tremendously on production costs. 

While the size of the traditional moong is smaller than that of the modern ones, it has several health and ecological benefits. “Many people in and around our village are exposed to harmful pesticides, which has even resulted in different types of cancers, so I have stuck to moong, which helps me retain the ecological farming practices,” she shares. 

It also improves soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Alongside moong, she cultivates traditional varieties of chickpea, black gram, peanut, and sorghum, among others. Talking about preserving green gram, she shares that its seeds remain safe for at least two years, allowing farmers to try out other crops if needed. 
 

Despite the benefits that far outweigh the monetary profits from harvesting high-yielding hybrid varieties, farmers in several parts of India have abandoned it, especially after the Green Revolution in the 1960s, when high-yielding wheat and rice varieties were introduced to alleviate hunger and poverty. Since then, farmers abandoned several traditional crops and kept shifting from one water-intensive commercial crop to another.
 

Mujavar’s village has reported a rise in climatic disasters in the past five years. “The decreasing rainfall and rising dry days have become a big problem for the farmers now,” she explains. This year, India reported an 11 percent decline in the monsoon rainfall in June, the highest in five years. Farmers are anticipating losses already. 

“Looking at this, farmers now realize the importance of traditional seeds. For the past five years, many farmers have bought the seeds of traditional moong, and I am happy they are shifting to sustainable farming practices.” 

Mujavar is proud of preserving these seeds, which she believes to be over 150 years old. Her work inspired her younger daughter Rehana to continue growing this crop in her village. 

Whenever she meets youngsters, she shares the moong seeds with them, saying, “If you want a healthy life, you need to start paying attention to how your food is grown. Simply eating healthy food isn’t enough; we must also care for the environment.”
 

. . .

We are thrilled and grateful to be in collaboration with Jain through our Share Your Voice initiative, an ongoing effort inspired by the #sharethemicnow movement.
 

Yours in food, justice, and food justice,

Tay + Dor

photo by Sanket Jain

tidbits...

resources on anti-racism, environmentalism and food culture AKA stuff we're reading / listening to / watching / noticing / thinking about / captivated by this Tuesday . . .

This week's kitchen dreams include Torshi Seer's whole-head garlic pickle and the magic of blackcurrant leaves.

While all of the Smithsonian's website for the National Museum of the American Indian is worthwhile, we suggest starting with their video asking How do Native People and Nations Experience Belonging?

Tamar Adler aka The Kitchen Shrink has advice on summer produce overwhelm.

In the Tour de France, Biniam Girmay has become the first Black cyclist to win a stage.

We are revisiting Ross Gay's essay for Orion Magazine, "From Grief a Garden Grows."

"Plenty has been written about the economic impact of the pandemic on the food industry, but not enough about its lingering effects on the bodies of people whose mission is to nourish us." Read the latest GFJ Story on the creator behind Anjali's Cup, with words by Nicole J. Caruth and photos by Christine Han.

got a tidbit? drop it here for us and we'll share it in next week's newsletter.