Section
Mixed cropping, desi seed, bullock tillage and rainwater harvesting — the local knowledge that kept these fields productive.
3 stories
On land that depends on the monsoon, the goal is not maximum yield. It is a harvest in the year the rain fails — and mixed cropping is how that was solved long before insurance existed.
Saved seed degenerates when it is collected from whatever is left after threshing. Selected from standing plants and dried to the right moisture, it holds for years.
On rainfed land the water arrives in a handful of storms. What matters is not how much falls but how much stays on the field after the runoff stops.
