Aniket Likhar
At first light in Shirajgaon village in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, women move through red gram fields, feeling for pods that are full but still green. The harvest basket fills slowly. By the time the winter sun begins to warm the dry air, vegetables for the day have already been collected.
After harvesting, the pods are shelled by hand. Some are cooked for breakfast, some go into a spiced curry for lunch, and some are boiled later in the field over an open fire. This is red gram before it becomes dal.Across the dryland districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada, red gram, locally called toor, serves many purposes before it reaches the market. It is a crop farmers rely on when rain is scarce, a seasonal vegetable that cuts household food costs, a source of fodder and shelter material for livestock, and a seed that carries generations of local farming knowledge.
On the upcoming International Seed Day, recognised April 26, 2026, red gram offers a clear reminder that in rural farming systems, seed is part of a living economy shaped by ecology, food and tradition.The crop that helps farmers manage uncertaintyIn Maharashtra’s rainfed regions, sowing begins with the first dependable monsoon showers in June. For many farmers, red gram is one of the few crops they trust to withstand uncertain rainfall. Unlike short-duration crops, it remains in the field for six to seven months and can survive long dry spells with little intervention. “Even when rainfall breaks midway, red gram usually survives,” says Gokul Sonone, a 37-year-old farmer from Rohana village. “That is why we never leave it out completely.”Red gram is often planted alongside sorghum, soyabean, millets, maize and cotton, and also in orchards. Farmers say this mixed system helps them spread risk and strengthen climate resilience.“This type of intercropping protects us because all crops do not fail together,” says Hiraman
Dhande, 65, a farmer from Dharni. “Red gram remains the most dependable among them.”
“Red gram is a leguminous crop. It has naturally found its place in intercropping systems,” says Dr Tarak Kate, chairman of Dharamitra, an NGO working in Wardha district. Its roots go deep into the soil, drawing nutrients from layers that shallow-rooted crops cannot reach. As a legume, it also enriches the soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. (Courtesy: DTE)