New Delhi – Women across the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) are functioning as the crucial seed keepers, biodiversity custodians, and knowledge holders sustaining traditional mountain agriculture against mounting climate pressures, yet their contributions remain largely ignored by mainstream policy. These women safeguard hundreds of indigenous seed varieties from red rice in Kangra to hardy barley in Ladakh that are inherently climate-resilient, pest-tolerant, and nutrient-rich, qualities essential for food security in the fragile mountain ecology.
The Agro-Ecological Framework of the Himalayas
Traditional Himalayan agriculture stands in stark contrast to industrial farming, prioritizing diversity, resilience, and seed sovereignty over monoculture and maximum yield. Women are central to this system, managing everything from soil and water conservation to seed selection and household nutrition. Scientific studies, such as one by Ramirez-Santos et al. in 2023, increasingly affirm that women, particularly in mountain regions, are the primary conservers of agro-ecological knowledge.
They maintain vast crop diversity through sophisticated techniques such as ‘baranaja’ in Uttarakhand, an intercropping method where up to twelve different crops grow together. This diversity serves as an advanced risk-management strategy, ensuring that if unpredictable weather causes one crop to fail, others will survive, thereby stabilizing food supplies and slopes while enriching the soil.
Furthermore, their natural, chemical-free storage methods rely on deep ecological insight, using ash, turmeric, neem, cow dung, and smoke as preservatives in local containers like kholi grass baskets or dry gourds, practices that remain invisible in national agricultural policy.
Policy Gaps and Climate Intensify Burdens
Despite contributing an estimated 70-90% of agricultural labor across the IHR often acting as de facto farm heads due to male migration women remain “invisible farmers.” They rarely own the land they cultivate, lack access to credit and insurance, and have minimal representation in extension services.
This burden is intensified by gender-blind policies and the climate crisis:
• Gender-Blind Policies: Most agricultural training programs target men, and tools are seldom designed with women’s ergonomics in mind, increasing physical strain.
• Climate Change Impacts: Drying springs, degraded forests, and invasive species like Lantana camara force women to travel longer distances for water and fodder. Warmer temperatures introduce new pests to previously unaffected crops, further threatening traditional seeds.
• Corporate Threats: Commercial seed companies promoting hybrids unsuited to mountain conditions pose an additional threat by demanding external inputs, degrading soil, and pushing farmers toward dependency and debt, eroding crucial seed sovereignty.
Community-Led Movements for Resilience
In response to these systemic challenges, women across the Himalayas have successfully revived powerful seed sovereignty movements. Examples include:
• The Beej Bachao Andolan in Uttarakhand, which has revived more than 120 indigenous varieties and restored millets as key “grains of life.”
• Women-led Self-Help Groups in Pithoragarh and Almora that operate seed banks, lending native seeds seasonally.
• Women’s cooperatives in Ladakh linked with organizations like the Women’s Alliance of Ladakh that conserve traditional barley and pea varieties.
These grassroots initiatives demonstrate that women are protecting not only genetic diversity that can withstand climate extremes, but also their unique identity, resilience, and ecological sovereignty.
Path to Structural Support and Resilience
For India to achieve long-term climate resilience and food security, experts stress that these efforts must receive structural support. It is essential to recognize women as farmers to secure their land rights, credit, insurance, and access to climate finance.
Furthermore, existing schemes such as the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture and the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana must be redesigned with gender-sensitive planning to reach remote mountain communities. Policy must support community seed banks through biodiversity conservation programs, and decision-making processes for Hill-region Farmer Producer Organisations must include women in leadership roles. Crucial documentation efforts, such as creating community biodiversity registers and Himalayan seed atlases through partnerships between universities and research institutes, are urgently needed to prevent the loss of this invaluable traditional knowledge held by older women.