to learn what his school never taught him. “There are hundreds of varieties of the traditional Maize. Name any color, and you will find its maize variety,” he says.

Domesticated around 9,000 years ago in Southern Mexico from wild grass teosinte, the United States of America is today the highest Maize producing country worldwide. The modern Maize we see is a result of selective breeding. Since 2000, over 120 hybrid maize varieties have been released in India alone, cultivated by 15 million farmers now. In his region with good alluvial soil, Makka (Maize) was replaced with sweet corn, which as the name suggests, has a high sugar content. India now produces 17 times more Maize than they did in the 1950's, but despite the rising numbers, finding traditional Maize has become a challenge. 
 

A resident of Chandoli village in Kolhapur district of India’s Maharashtra state, 60-year-old Kamble believes he is the fourth generation in his family to preserve the indigenous off-white Maize. “That’s a history of over 160 years,” calculates Kamble proudly. Today, he and his wife, Draupadi, remain the handful of farmers in their village preserving the crop. 

“With the rise of sweet corn, farmers began abandoning the traditional variety as the production is less, takes a larger time to grow, and isn’t sweet,” he explains succinctly. Another challenge is the threat to crops from Bison, monkey, and wild boar. “Since not many people grow this now, the animals devour whatever little farmers grow,” says Kamble. 

Still, in half an acre of land, the Kambles harvested around 200 kilograms of Maize last year. “We don’t sell it. It’s only for our household use,” he shares. 

One of the reasons the last-generation farmers didn’t abandon this crop was that the traditional Maize stalks serve as important cattle fodder. The hybrid ones are smaller in height, and Kamble says its fodder isn’t as nutritious as the traditional one. 

Moreover, Maize flatbreads formed an earlier staple diet. Corn meal doesn’t contain gluten, making it ideal for people with gluten intolerance or Celiac disease. Furthermore, it is a rich source of dietary fiber, iron, and phosphorous.

“From the environmental perspective, traditional climate-resilient maize varieties survive heat waves and drought-like conditions. Moreover, they don’t require chemical fertilizers and pesticides,” says Kamble. This helps significantly lower the cost of production. 

In 2022, India witnessed its warmest March month in 122 years. “Despite such heat waves, we didn’t report a major loss,” shares Archana, Kamble’s daughter-in-law, who has been cultivating it for 15 years. However, in 2019 and 2021, floods devastated almost all the hybrid rice varieties they grew. “Only the traditional crops like finger millet, little millet, and maize survived to a large extent,” she says. 

Today, Maize is predominantly used for making starch and industrial alcohol. Farmer leader Vijay Jawandhiya, based in Maharashtra, says, “Ever since farmers shifted to cash crops and hybrid varieties, there’s been a shortage of animal fodder.” Several states of India witnessed a massive fodder shortage after the heat waves last year, worsening the agrarian crisis. “Indigenous varieties were good for the environment,” he adds. 

From January 1 to September 30, 2022, India experienced extreme weather events on 241 out of 273 days, devastating agriculture. Research finds that higher temperatures cause tremendous losses to sweet corn, which are exacerbated by excessive water. 

“The climate cycle has changed completely. Now there are more floods, but the rainfall is decreasing,” says Shivaji. “It’s quite ironic. With rising climate disasters, it’s important to preserve traditional varieties,” says Kamble, who has vowed to preserve the indigenous Maize till his last breath. 

. . .

We are thrilled and grateful to have collaborated 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

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