Rahibai Soma Popere (), born in 1964, is an Indian farmer and conservationist. She helps other farmers return to native varieties of crops, preparing

hyacinth bean ''Lablab purpureus'' is a species of bean in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Africa and it is cultivated throughout the tropics for food.BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

list of " 100 Women 2018". Scientist

Raghunath Mashelkar Raghunath Anant Mashelkar FRS FREng FRSC, also known as Ramesh Mashelkar, (born 1 January 1943) is an Indian Chemical Engineer, born in a village Mashel in Goa and brought up in Maharashtra. He is a former Director General of the Council of S ...

gave her the epithet "Seed Mother".

Early life

Popere is from Kombhalne village located in

Akole Akole is a city and Taluka in Akole tehsil, Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India. Akole is surrounded by the Sahyadri Mountains of Western Ghats, India. Several historical sites in the city honor Akole's connection to the h ...

block of

Ahmednagar district Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ is the largest districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical Ahmednagar city is the headquarters of the district. ...

in the state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. She has no formal education. She has worked on farms all her life and has an extraordinary understanding of crop diversity. she belong to

Mahadev Koli Mahadev may refer to: *Shiva, a primary Hindu deity ** Parashiva, a form of Shiva ** Parameshwara (god), a form of Shiva * Mahadev, Nepal * Mahadev Peak, a mountain peak in Kashmir Valley *Kailashnath Mahadev Statue in Nepal *Para Brahman, a Hindu ...

community of Maharashtra.

Career

Rahibai Soma Popere farm land, where she grows 17 different crops. She was visited by the BAIF Development Research Foundation in 2017, who found the gardens she supported had enough produce to meet the dietary requirements of a family for a whole year. She developed a series of

hyacinth Hyacinth or Hyacinthus may refer to: Nature Plants * Hyacinth (plant), genus ''Hyacinthus'' ** ''Hyacinthus orientalis'', common hyacinth * Grape hyacinth, ''Muscari'', a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia * Hyacinth bean, ''Labl ...

beans for self-help groups and families in nearby villages. She was described by Raghunath Mashelkar, the erstwhile Director General of the

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

as 'Seed Mother'. She is an active member of the self-help group Kalsubai parisar Biyanse Sarvdhan centre (translation: Committee for seed conservation in the Kalsubai region). She has created her own methods to harvest water on farms; turning wasteland into space she can use productively. She trains farmers and students on ways to select seeds, keep fertile soils and manage pests. She is skilled in four-step paddy cultivation. She has learned to rear poultry in her yard with the support of the Maharashtra Institute of Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (MITTRA).

Awards

Ram Nath Kovind presenting the Nari Shakti Puraskar to her in 2018">Nari_Shakti_Puraskar.html" ;"title="Ram Nath Kovind presenting the Nari Shakti Puraskar">Ram Nath Kovind presenting the Nari Shakti Puraskar to her in 2018 * BBC 100 Women 2018 * The Best Seed Saver award * BAIF Development Research Foundation Best Farmer Award *

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian hono ...

, 2018, instituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. *

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, 2020

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind (; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community ...

presenting

to Rahibai Popere Additionally, in January 2015, she received appreciation from Prem Mathur, Honorary Research Fellow at

Bioversity International Bioversity International is a global research-for-development organization that delivers scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural biodiversity to attain global food and nutrition security, wor ...

and from R. R. Hanchinal, Chairperson of a government body for the protection of plant varieties and farmers' rights in India.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popere, Rahibi Soma Koli people Indian farmers 1964 births BBC 100 Women Living people Indian women farmers People from Ahmednagar district Nari Shakti Puraskar 2018 winners Farmers' rights activists Recipients of the Padma Shri in other fields