M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) has been working in the Jeypore region of Odisha over the last two decades in the area biological diversity conservation, promotion of sustainable livelihoods through micro-level interventions, establishment of Community-Managed Gene, Seed, Grain and Water Banks, promotion of genetic literacy, and documentation of local conservation traditions.
These initiatives were always with the participation of the local tribal communities, and such approach brought the prestigious Equator Initiative Award for conservation of plant genetic resources and traditions to Jeypore in Odisha, India.
MSSRF’s interventions have raised the level of confidence among the local communities. With the establishment of SHGs for water resources management, wasteland reclamation, also the marketing of speciality rice such as Kalajeera and value-add products prepared from minor millets, and many more such initiatives, we have and continue to demonstrate improving the lives and livelihoods of the local populations.
The vast medicinal plant resources in the region had not received decent attention from the research community until MSSRF began advocating the cause. Our work in Jeypore received tremendous support from the Government of Odisha, and the then Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha – Shri Naveen Patnaik, provided 05 hectares of land so that MSSRF can establish a medicinal plant conservation centre. This magnanimous gesture gave birth to the Biju Patnaik Medicinal Plants Garden and Conservation Centre located in Jeypore, in the tribal district of Koraput, on November 6, 2006.
The major objective was to establish an ex-situ genetic conservation centre of medicinal plants belonging to the predominant nine tribes of Koraput region – the Parojas, Bondas, Kandhas, Koyas, Sauras, Gonds, Gadabas, Bhumias, and the Bhatras.
0.75 acre of land was assigned for each of the nine tribes to encourage them to grow the medicinal plants that they use for their healthcare needs. These lands and the medicinal plants still serve as a repository of various genetic stocks of medicinal plants of the region, and can be of immense utility for the present and future generations. This conservation centre serves as a living gene bank for the tribal families.