A Class VII student of Odisha’s Koraput district was the cynosure of all eyes at the international convention on millets that concluded here on Friday.

Popularly known as seed girl, Harasita Priyadarshani Mohanty, has been able to collect 85 types of millets.

All the millet varieties were on display at the convention and she educated people about the nutritional values of millets.

“These millets from the tribal-dominated areas are nutritious in nature. It controls the blood pressure and also helps in keeping other diseases under control,” Harasita,
from Prakash Vidyalaya of Jeypore in Koraput district, said while trying to convince people visiting her stall to make millet as a part of their dietary system.

Harasita told The Telegraph: “I used to visit the different tribal pockets of Koraput along with my father and collected the grains. Later I preserved it either in pots or in small plastic containers. I have set up a food grain and seed bank in my house I love to learn the basic agricultural practices the tribals adopt for survival.”

Besides millets, Harasita has been able to preserve 150 varieties of traditional grains of paddy.

“I want to become an agronomist in the future. I want to help the farmers’ communities. I will fight for the farmers’ rights,” said the girl with little idea about how the farmers are fighting to get the MSP (minimum support price) for their products and the central government as well as the state government remained silent on the issue.

She continued: “It is no longer just a poor man’s food. Its demand has grown up.”

Harasita got an insight of collecting grains from Kamala Pujari, the tribal woman, who is known for promoting organic farming.

“Another pious lady that has made a lot of impact on me is Padmashree Sabarmati Tiki, an Indian conservationist,” she said.

Her father, Harekrushna Mohanty, a plantation officer in a private company, said: “I spotted her talent when she started taking care of antique things. She collected coins from 80 countries starting from 1835 AD. Besides, she has collected postal stamps from 40 countries.”

More than 5,000 farmers joined the convention and got exposure on scientific methods of cultivation and marketing. All of them visited Harasita’s stall.

The Odisha government has recognised her outstanding effort and even the principal secretary of agriculture and farmers’ empowerment department, Arabinda Kumar Padhee has written a letter of appreciation to her.

She was also invited by the Government of India to participate in the global symposium on farmers’ rights held in September in Delhi.

Director of Agriculture and Food Production Prem Chandra Chaudhary said:
“In order to give marketing to the millets, we have tied up with the Indian Institute of Packaging. They will come up with ideas and projects and help women self-help groups in packaging the millets.”

Officials said: “Although we have achieved food security by adopting an advanced and productive agricultural system, nutrition security is yet to be attained. At this juncture, bringing ‘Forgotten Food’ back to our diet regimen is a wise solution.”