Traditional seed banks do more than provide insurance against doomsday scenarios. They preserve the genetic diversity of resilient, locally adapted crops. Alongside, they embody the inherited knowledge, innovation and pragmatism that communities have developed over generations.
Unlike modern seed distribution, which follows a linear, one-way path, traditional seed preservation relies on interconnected networks through which seeds and knowledge pass between generations and communities. These networks support not only food security but also cultural continuity and social cohesion.
Such ingenious practices can be seen in Sikkim and adjoining regions, where communities use materials and spaces readily available at home to dry, protect and store seeds, ensuring their availability for future planting.
Drying seeds using house structures
Traditional Sikkimese households creatively use of domestic spaces to preserve seeds after harvest. Walls, ceilings and roof edges provide convenient and effective drying surfaces, harnessing ambient warmth and natural air circulation to dry seeds.
Seeds from crops such as cucumbers and pumpkins are spread out or pressed against walls to dry. In homes with wooden structures, timber surfaces provide a relatively warm, dry environment. Wood surface also helps remove moisture from the seeds before they are stored for the next sowing season.
Maize (Zea mays) is dried differently. Its cobs are tied together and hung from ceilings, rafters or eaves, where air can circulate around them and they remain off the ground, away from dampness. The rows of hanging maize also lend rural homes a distinctive visual character. Similar methods are used for chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum), tree tomato (Solanum betaceum), garlic (Allium sativum L) and varieties of beans.
The chula and bhar: drying with heat and smoke
A distinctive feature of traditional rural homes across the Sikkim and Darjeeling is the chula (traditional household stove) and the bhar (raised wooden storage rack) above it. Made of bamboo and wood, the bhar is used to store local beans and pulses, firewood, medicinal herbs such as chingpheng (Heracleum nepalensis) and chiraito (Swertia chirata) and meat. Hung or placed above the chula, these materials are exposed to heat and smoke, which help dry and preserve them.
Positioned directly above the chula, the bhar receives a steady flow of heat and smoke, which gradually dries the seeds and other agricultural produce stored there. Smoke and soot are also traditionally believed to deter insects and protect stored materials from moisture. Together, the chula and bhar form a simple but effective drying and storage system. Rather than being designed as specialised agricultural infrastructure, the arrangement evolved as part of everyday domestic life, reflecting the practical concerns of household sustenance and resilience.
Drying seeds in the nanglo
The nanglo, a bamboo winnowing tray, provides a broad surface on which to spread pulses and beans for sun-drying. A single tray can reveal the striking diversity of seeds stored by a household. Once dried, the seeds are kept in or near the bhar, where residual warmth from the chula helps maintain dry conditions during storage.
More than preserving seeds
Seed preservation does not exist in isolation. It is part of a wider farming tradition in which households maintain genetic diversity, cultivate diverse crops in polycultures and conserve plants for purposes beyond food, including cultural, medicinal and ornamental uses. This tradition draws on generations of local ecological knowledge: when to harvest, which planting materials to retain, how to dry them, where to store them and when to return them to cultivation.
Seed preservation thus reflects a broader relationship between people, agriculture and domestic space. This relationship extends into the kothey bari, or homestead garden.
The kothey bari can be understood as a biocultural refugium: a living repository in which biological diversity and cultural knowledge are sustained together. Spring onions, garlic, turmeric, radish, cardamom, peas and leafy vegetables may grow alongside one another, maintaining plant diversity within a single cultivated space. This diversity is not confined to food crops. Native medicinal plants such as Paris polyphylla, known locally as satuwa, bamboo and trees found in forests are also cultivated and harvested, rather than gathered exclusively from the wild.
Together, these elements form a diverse pool of biological resources that sustains household livelihoods and ecological resilience.
These practices constitute a form of community-based conservation. Their value lies not only in the diversity they sustain but also in the knowledge that underpins them: generations of observation and experience concerning crops, seasons, materials, household spaces and the surrounding landscape.
As global food systems increasingly favour high-yielding hybrid crops, the risk of genetic erosion, declining agrobiodiversity and cultural loss grows. These trends can undermine the resilience of food systems, particularly in places such as Sikkim, which remains food-insecure. Preserving traditional practices is therefore not simply about safeguarding the past; it is about keeping future choices open. Conserving traditional seeds, farming methods, medicinal plants and the landscapes that sustain them also safeguards the ecological and cultural knowledge that connects communities to their land.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth