This Maharashtra girl preserved over 250 varieties of rare seeds

A Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) student, Shruti Arun Ojha, from Beed of Maharashtra has reserved over 250 varieties of rare seeds from various states of the country. She makes these seeds available to the citizens and has sent them to more than 18,000 citizens across the country by post. She follows a simple policy that those who have been given the seeds should return back double the seeds after a year.

Beed (Maharashtra): Many types of rare seeds are becoming extinct due to non-preservation. There are a lot of seeds that not many know names of. We have never seen seeds of varieties like purple turmeric, sweet chilli, Assamese lemon, black pea, red radish, Kashmiri garlic, etc. However, Shruti Arun Ojha, a Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) student from here, has saved all the seeds which she could.

Shruti has launched a unique initiative to save the rare seeds from various states of the country and make them available to the citizens and has sent them to more than 18,000 citizens across the country by post.

Shruti's family lives in Vipra Nagar area of the city. Her father runs a courier business, while her mother is a housewife. Shruti's father doesn't even have an acre of land. However, she is extremely attached to the soil, as can be seen from the preservation of rare seeds. She has been preserving rare seeds for a year and a half now.

Seeds of more than 250 rare varieties

All one knows is the regular turmeric. However, Shruti has purple turmeric seeds. Not only that, chillies are usually spicy, but, Shruti has seeds of sweet chillies. Also, the seeds of many rare varieties like black pea, red radish, Kashmiri garlic, Assamese lemon, etc have been carefully preserved by her.

Shruti Ojha's seed return policy

Shruti has come up with a unique idea so that citizens and farmers can use 250 to 300 different types of seeds. Her policy is that those who have been given the seeds should return double the seeds after a year. She only charges the postal fee.

Since her family do not have agricultural land, they cannot now plant these seeds in large quantities. Shruti's father Arun Ojha hopes that with some help from the government or the district agriculture department, the rare seeds could be made readily available again.