Women in Khulna Drive Grassroots Movement to Preserve Local Seeds & Strengthen Food Security

In Khulna’s Batiaghata upazila, nearly 200 women from 17 villages are driving a grassroots seed-saving movement, cultivating and exchanging indigenous crop varieties to strengthen food security and climate resilience. Among them, Shyamoli Sarkar stands out, preserving 80 local seed types in her courtyard. Linked to Bangladesh’s broader organic farming initiatives, this movement challenges agrochemical dependence, safeguards biodiversity, and revives traditional agricultural knowledge amid the rise of hybrid and genetically modified crops.