Rayagada Dongria Kondh Tribal Turmeric Millets Odisha

Rayagada in the Rayagada district of Odisha is the heartland of the Dongria Kondh tribal community, who inhabit the Niyamgiri hills and practice a sophisticated multi-crop forest farming system cultivating finger millet, sorghum, turmeric, ginger, and over forty varieties of cultivated plant alongside forest food collection. The Dongria Kondh successfully resisted bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri mountains through a Supreme Court-backed gram sabha process in 2013. Their traditional ecological knowledge of the Niyamgiri forest ecosystem, plant medicine, and seed conservation is considered among the richest in peninsular India. Tribal cooperative societies registered under Odisha Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme collect and market Dongria Kondh turmeric and millet through TRIFED outlets. Women of the community are primary cultivators and seed keepers. Community seed banks maintained by the Kondh cooperative preserve indigenous paddy and millet varieties not available commercially.