Today, April 26, is celebrated as International Seed Day.“Our fields are still green, but they no longer carry the same aroma,” said 42-year-old Bijit Kutum, sitting on the edge of his paddy field in Balijan Adarso village in Golaghat district, Assam.A member of the Mising community, one of Assam’s largest tribal groups, Kutum has grown up farming along the floodplains shaped by the Brahmaputra. For generations, his community has cultivated diverse crops adapted to shifting soils, erratic rainfall and seasonal floods. But something fundamental is changing, he said.“There was a time when you could smell the harvest before you saw it.”Across many parts of Assam, the arrival of harvest season once came with a soft, sweet fragrance drifting across the fields. The scent came from joha rice, an indigenous aromatic variety known for its fine grains, delicate texture and distinct flavour. Recognising its uniqueness, joha rice was granted a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2017.Today, that fragrance is fading.Crop Diversity Block at Manihori Integrated Farm in Agoratoli village, Assam. Photo: Monuhar Pegu.A Living Memory of AromaIn Agoratoli village, near the eastern range of Kaziranga National Park, 72-year-old Bohagi Pegu continues to cultivate traditional crops using methods passed down through generations.“The floral aroma of joha rice and the taste of our native vegetables defined our seasons,” she said. “We never used chemicals. The taste came from the soil.” She named several varieties of rice she still grows – kola joha, keteki joha, bhabuli joha, and kon joha – each with its own fragrance, grain type and growing conditions. Alongside these are traditional vegetables like scented sponge gourd (joha bhul) and ash gourd, as well as pulses such as black gram and pigeon pea.A traditional red-coloured rice variety. Photo: Monuhar Pegu.“These are part of our food, our festivals, our everyday life,” Bohagi says.For the Mising community, agriculture is deeply embedded in culture. Festivals like Ali-Aye-Ligang, which marks the sowing season, celebrate seeds, soil and seasonal cycles through song, dance and food. Joha rice, often used in traditional dishes and rice beer, carries both flavour and memory.A slow disappearanceThe decline of traditional seeds did not happen overnight.“During my childhood in the 1980s, our fields were full of traditional varieties,” recalled Bohagi Pegu. “Everything was mixed, local varieties of rice, vegetables, pulses.”These crops were well adapted to local conditions and required minimal external inputs. But with increasing policy push for higher production and food security, high-yielding varieties (HYVs) began to replace indigenous crops.Seventy-year-old Khageswar Kutum from Agoratoli village explained the shift.“Farmers moved to hybrid and high-yielding seeds because they gave more production,” he said. “Slowly, we stopped saving our own seeds. Now many of those varieties survive only in small patches.”The introduction of mono-cropping and chemical inputs further accelerated the decline. Fields that once hosted multiple crops began to grow a single variety. “Now many paddy fields look the same,” he said. “But they have no aroma. Even the soil smells different.”Bohagi Pegu, a Mising farmer from Agoratoli village, Assam, checks her preserved traditional black gram seeds. Photo: Monuhar Pegu.Seeds, Soil and SurvivalFor farmers like Bijit Kutum, traditional seeds are the result of generations of selection. “We chose them based on floods, soil type, and uplands. That is why they are resilient.”Traditional varieties like joha rice and bau dhan (deep-water rice) are adapted to Assam’s complex ecology. Some can withstand water-logging, while others grow well in upland conditions without irrigation.“They grow with the soil, not against it,” Kutum says. “They do not need heavy chemicals.”From a cultural perspective, the loss is equally significant. “Joha rice is part of our identity,” he said. “If it disappears, a part of us disappears with it.”There is also an economic dimension. Aromatic rice can fetch higher prices in niche markets. But farmers rarely benefit fully due to weak procurement systems, lack of market linkages and limited institutional support.Policy Push and Ground RealitiesIndia’s agricultural policies have long prioritised yield enhancement through improved seeds, fertilisers and irrigation. Programmes under the National Food Security Mission and other schemes have promoted certified seeds, often sidelining farmer-managed seed systems.While the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act recognises farmers’ rights to save, use and exchange seeds, its implementation remains limited on the ground.“Officials distribute seeds, but rarely ask what farmers already have,” says Kutum.Seeds of a traditional ash gourd variety from Manihori Integrated Farm. Photo: Monuhar Pegu.Experts point out that such approaches often overlook the ecological diversity of regions like Assam. Uniform seeds and input-heavy practices may increase short-term yields but can undermine long-term resilience, especially in flood-prone areas.The result is a gradual erosion of both biodiversity and traditional knowledge systems.Rebuilding What Was LostDespite the decline, some farmers are attempting to revive traditional seeds. At Manihori Integrated Farm in Agoratoli village, farmers Hemanta Pegu and Horuti Pegu are working to conserve traditional varieties through agro-ecological practices.“About 35 varieties of traditional rice and around 25 vegetable seeds are being preserved here,” said Hemanta Pegu. “We have been growing these seeds since our forefathers’ time. Now we want to bring them back.”The initiative is supported through a seed fellowship by Bharat Agroecology Fund and Keystone Foundation.Seeds of a traditional sponge gourd variety. Photo: Monuhar Pegu.In designated crop diversity blocks, farmers cultivate multiple varieties, document their traits and adapt them to changing conditions. The work includes seed selection, characterisation and maintaining local seed records.Rising input costs and declining soil health are also pushing farmers to reconsider chemical-intensive farming.“Earlier, we thought only high-yield seeds could give us income,” said Hemanta. “Now we see the cost of inputs is too high. Traditional seeds are more sustainable.”The fading aroma of joha rice reflects a deeper transformation in farming systems, ecology and culture. Fields which once held diversity are now seeing uniformity. Where seeds were once saved and shared, dependence on external inputs is growing.Farmers like Bijit Kutum see this as a turning point. “Seeds will survive only if farming allows them to survive,” he said.The challenge ahead is to rebuild the systems that sustain them through promoting healthy soils, local seed networks and supportive policies.In Assam’s Mising villages, the memory of fragrance still lingers. Whether it returns depends on the choices made now, by farmers, markets and policymakers alike.Monuhar Pegu works as a Regional Coordinator-Northeast India for Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), Kaziranga, Assam.