Father, Daughter From Odisha Awarded Padma Shri For Organic Farming

Bhubaneswar: Retired Economics Professor Radha Mohan from Odisha and his daughter Sabarmatee, a conservationist, were awarded Padma Shri in the field of Agriculture for their work in organic farming ahead of the 71st Republic Day.

The father-daughter duo is among 21Padma Shri awardees announced by the Central Government on Saturday. 

They started the initiative Sambhav, a resource centre for farmers across the country. Sambhav grows many vanishing food crops such as clove bean, jack bean, black rice and sword bean etc.

The duo transformed 36 hectares of degraded land in Nayagarh district into a food forest by soil and water conservation techniques. The forest has over 1,000 species of plants and 500 varieties of rice and supports a seed bank with 700 indigenous varieties of seeds.

They also run ‘Adopt a Seed’ initiative to give region specific seed varieties to farmers for free.