In the tiny hamlet of Raisar, about 150 km from Bhubaneswar, resides 45-year-old Durjyadhana Jani, a farmer who has noticed considerable changes in the field of farming for the past three decades. As a child, his family practiced organic farming, but for the past two decades, chemical fertilizers and pesticides have been in use.

However, three years ago, he shunned the practice of chemical farming and returned to natural methods of farming. Along with him, around 27 households in and around his hamlet have now taken up organic farming.

One might wonder what triggered this change, well, the answer is - A Seed Bank. A "bank" of seeds, as the name implies, is a collection of indigenous seed varieties kept at the village level. Farmers can borrow these seeds on the condition that they return them an equal amount after the harvest.

 To begin with, a "bihan mela" or seed festival was held in the village to originally achieve a diversity of seeds. Farmers from other regions were invited to visit with their native seeds and trade them with others. The seed bank functions like a conventional bank, but instead of using money, it uses seeds.

Each "transaction" is documented. "We keep a record of everything in the seed bank. A farmer must repay the same amount of seeds provided to him after the harvest.  If he is unable to do so for some reason, he must return twice as much as interest next year.

The seed bank in Raisar villages currently holds 52 types of rice seeds, four types of millets, and a variety of vegetables, up from 12 varieties in 2019.

The majority of farmers, who had been taught traditional agricultural methods by their ancestors for generations, were familiar with the idea of using indigenous seeds. They departed from conventional farming practices, though, due to the promise of chemical farming's high yield.

Farmers realized that soil has lost its richness and porosity, due to the use of chemicals. This coupled with the fact that indigenous seeds are climate resistant and can sustain with less water prompted farmers to switch to organic farming. This turned out to be a better bargain as organic produce now fetches a better price and farmers are earning better than before.