Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 14 Jul: To promote environmental conservation in the Doon Valley and protect valuable tree species, the youth organisation MAD Foundation, in collaboration with Aagaas Federation, organised a Seed Ball (Seed Bomb) Making and Awareness Training Programme for nature lovers in Doon Valley.
Archie Bisht, Senior Coordinator of MAD Foundation, explained that the organisation’s core team needed practical training in preparing seed Bomb/Balls. Therefore, the foundation approached Aagaas Federation, a leading organisation associated with the Seed Bomb/Balls Campaign in Uttarakhand, for more than 12 years to train the core group team of MAD. Subsequently, MAD and AAGAAS organised a one day Seed Bomb making training programme jointly.
JP Maithani, the Founder and Chairperson of Aagaas Federation, stated that the organisation plans to produce 10,000 seed balls this year using its own resources. These seed balls will be dispersed across the districts of Dehradun and Chamoli, particularly in areas that have recently been affected by large-scale forest fires, landslides, or ongoing soil erosion.
The training session was led by chief trainer JP Maithani, who first introduced participants to the seed varieties of several important tree species, including Peepal, Banyan, Kachnar, Kadamba, Lathi Bamboo, Gulmohar, Amaltas, and Chakresia. He then demonstrated the complete process of preparing seed balls, including mixing soil, compost and sand, placing seeds inside the mixture, shaping the seed balls into uniform sizes, and drying them in the shade. He also explained the ecological importance of these selected tree species within the Dehradun ecosystem.
Representing MAD Foundation, Ashish, Darish, Ambika and Archana prepared the first batch of seed balls. They were followed by other volunteers, including Vrinda, Sushma Bisht, Shagufta, Prince, Gautam Singh, Aman, Riddhima, Ishan, Anees, and Akshit, who collectively produced more than 800 seed balls.
The MAD Organisation core team will now visit 20 colleges and universities across Dehradun to conduct seed ball-making workshops and spread awareness about this environmental initiative. Darish, a member of MAD Foundation, shared that five schools have already given their consent to participate. Seed ball-making activities, involving both teachers and students, will begin at these schools later this week.
The team of MAD learned how to make Seed Bombs with the soil mixture, putting seeds of Laathi Bamboo (Dendracalamus strictus), Peepal (Ficus religiosa), Bargad (Ficus benghalensis), Kadamba (Neolamarckia cadamba), Gulmohar (Delonix regia), Amaltash (Cassia fistula), Kachnar (Bauhinia purpurea) and Chukrasia (Chukrasia tabularis) in the soil mix made balls and prepared more than 800 seed bombs in a few hours.
