On 31st August 2025, the Deccan Development Society organized the 6th annual ‘Uncultivated Greens Festival’ at DDS-KVK campus in Didigi Village, Zahirabad mandal. Nearly 70 visitors from different districts in Telangana, and other states including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh participated in the festival along 30 sangham women and few nutrition scientists and media persons.
Participants first gathered at Cafe Green Ethnic, Zahirabad where they dispered into two groups to visit biodiverse farms in Gunjoti and Pastapur villages. At the farms, visitors interacted with women farmers on uncultivated greens available on their farms. The women talked about nearly 20-30 varieties of greens they have found around their farms and explained about their medicinal and nutritional properties.
After the field visits, participants gathered again at the DDS-Krishi Vigyan Kendra where nearly 40 varieties of green were exhibited and informational posters on their values were put to display. A special millets and greens lunch were 25 varieties of greens curries with millet rotis (ragi roti, bajra roti and jowar roti) and local spice mixes (flaxseed spice powder and niger chutney). Visitors relished the greens with a full plate of greens and nutrition.
After lunch, participants gathered for an interaction session with nutrition scientists and senior farmers for more information on greens. The meeting began with a special song on harvesting greens, which was sung by sangham women. Dr Salome Yesudas, nutrition expert said “When I was working at DDS Krishi Vigyan Kendra as a scientist, PV Satheesh who was the the director of the organization brought forward the discussion on orphan greens. Sangham women who we worked with, were mostly farm laborers who did weeding. For many generations they consumed these so-called weeds and maintained the nutrition of their families without any extra expenditure. We roped in National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad to conduct nutritional analysis on these greens and we were amazed at the results. These weeds had multiples of micronutrients like iron, folic acid, b17 and many more that were close to nil in many familiar cultivated greens. Reviving these forgotten foods is essential for us to address malnutrition in our women and poorer households.”
Dr Rumila Sitaram, Assistant Professor at RBVRR College for Women, said “I am very happy to be present at this unique festival. I teach many students about foods and nutrition but the intricate knowledge of these women never makes its way into our textbooks. Such abundant natural wealth is forgotten and marginalized ironically by the most educated people.”
Dr Hemalatha, SMS (Home Science) at DDS-KVK said “We are told that now our main challenge is hidden hunger. Although more people are eating enough nowadays, the food is completely depleted of essential nutrients and consists only of carbohydrates. This hidden hunger manifests in several of our modern diseases that are increasing. Many people from wealthy and middle-class sections are going after very exotic imported foods that very expensive to gain these nutrients. Instead of that, we should raise awareness on the local sources like these uncultivated greens,”
Dr Shailaja Gogu, SMS (Horticulture) at DDS-KVK said “In our agriculture university, we used to have a class on ‘weed science’ where we were taught that these greens like uttareni and chitramalam are weeds and have to be removed and disposed away. It was only after coming here I realized that they are very nutritional and offer many health benefits.”
Chandramma, senior farmer and sangham karyakarta said “For many generation our mothers and grandmothers used to gather and bring these greens to home when they went for weeding in landlords and other farms. There is practically no expense for these greens. Mother earth offers them willingly during rains if we take care of her and do not use chemical fertilizers and herbicides. These were the greens we ate for many generations and stayed healthy.”