BENGALURU: It's like sowing seeds for a greener future. Over 200 volunteers joined hands on Sunday and rolled 30,000 seed balls which will later be used to develop forests, at an event organized to mark
Earth Day at
MN Krishna Rao Park
in Basavanagudi, south Bengaluru.
The Seed Ball Maha Abhiyana, organized by Uttishta Bharatha in association with KARTAVYA and other NGOs, envisages tossing three crore seed balls over the year on to dry lands and man-made deserts into forests across India.
Prashanth M, member of Uttishta Bharatha, said six lakh seed balls are ready. "To reach our target, we are sending volunteers to various districts in the state to carry out this project," he said.
Meenakshi Ravikrishna from
Bengaluru Water Warriors
, an NGO, said: "I have received calls from people from across India who are interested in this. Some from abroad have also volunteered to sponsor and fund these NGOs to expand this initiative throughout the country."
Seed balls are rolled with soil and manure. "Seed balling is a very easy method of reforestation as the seeds are tossed in forested areas where the land is already fertile, therefore no extra measures need to be taken," said V
Srinivas Murthy
, a member of Hasiru mission.
He pointed out that the locations are chosen depending on the seed and the type of soil it requires. Yet, with increased deforestation and rise in temperatures, one group of people isn't enough to reverse these ill-effects. Seeds of tamarind, jack fruit and subabul were among those used in rolling balls. The seed balls will be kept in shade for 5-6 hours to dry and stored in gunny bags for three months. They are not exposed to sunlight to prevent them from cracking. The seeds are usually tossed right before the monsoon season starts so that they can germinate. A few locations under consideration for tossing seed balls are Bengaluru outskirts, Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Dharwad and Chitradurga districts.
Mangala Gowri, yoga instructor, said: "Controlled breathing techniques will soon be of no use considering how polluted the air already is. With the severe increase in respiratory diseases, breathing itself has become difficult."
- Nina Karun