Madhya Pradesh
India's tribal heartland — home to Kodo and Little millet farming by Gond, Baiga, and Bhil communities using zero-budget natural methods.
Madhya Pradesh is one of India's most biodiverse agricultural states — and one of the most under-recognised. The Vindhya Plateau and Satpura Range host the highest concentration of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India, including the Baiga (classified as a PVTG), who are among the world's few remaining hunter-gatherer-farmer communities. The Baiga's Bewar cultivation system — using ash from burnt forest debris to enrich soil without chemical input — is a 4,000-year-old farming technology. Kodo millet, Little millet, and a vast diversity of indigenous pulses and oilseeds are maintained by tribal seed networks that predate the Indian nation-state.
PVTG communities
5 groups in MP (Baiga, Maria, Abujhmariya, Birhor, Saharia)
Indigenous crop varieties
200+ maintained by tribal seed banks
Kodo millet GI
52–55 (one of lowest GI millets)
Beej Bachao network
15,000+ farmers across MP and Chhattisgarh
— Climate
Subtropical semi-arid — hot summers (45°C+), monsoon rainfall 750–1,500mm, dry winters
— Soil Type
Black cotton soil (Deccan trap basalt) in the south; red-yellow laterite in the Vindhyas
— What Grows Here —
Key ingredients from Madhya Pradesh.
— Farming Communities
- Baiga tribe (PVTG — Mandla, Dindori)
- Gond community farmers (Chhindwara, Balaghat)
- Bhil farmers (Jhabua, Alirajpur)
- Beej Bachao Andolan seed networks
— GI Protected Products
Tikamgarh honey
GI Tag 2021
— Traditional Farming Systems
- Bewar (Baiga slash-and-burn with long fallow)
- Beej Bachao Andolan (Save the Seeds) community seed banks
- ZBNF (Zero Budget Natural Farming)
- Inter-tribal seed exchange festivals
— Challenges Facing This Region
Land encroachment from mining and commercial forestry; PVTG status means Baiga cannot be legally displaced, but agricultural land is shrinking; tribal youth migration to cities eroding traditional knowledge.
Explore all origins.
13 regions, 60+ farming communities, and counting.