Don’t detonate firecrackers, sow them and hatch trees and plants - this has become a new motto for several people in India who are gifting their loved ones different varieties of “seed firecrackers” and “seed sweets”.
From firecrackers such as micro-greens garland (ladi), whirlgig onion (chakkari), hemp bomb, and cucumber rocket to a variety of Indian sweets including palm oil-free laddu, sugar-free barfi and wheatless cookies, Indians are finding alternative ways to celebrate the country's biggest holiday.
These “seed firecrackers” and “seed sweets” might fool observers with their realistic look. But this innovative concept is winning people’s hearts and selling like hot cakes in India.
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Made by the team of Gram Art Project, collectively run by farmers, painters, social workers and writers from Madhya Pradesh state’s Chhindwara district, the replicas of firecrackers and sweets are made using recyclable material embedded with seed balls.
Experimenting for the first time, Tanmay Joshi, a member of the Gram Art Project, tells Sputnik that they picked seeds that can easily germinate during this season.
“Our Micro-greens Ladi (garland) consists of seven pairs of seeds including red and green amaranthus, amaranth, fenugreek, purslane, mustard and spinach. Phoenix Chakkari (whirlgig) has onion seeds and hemp bombs consist of roselle. The wheatless cookies consist of brinjal and purslane seeds, sugar-free barfi has okra and amaranthus,” Joshi says.
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The inspiration behind making seed firecrackers and seed sweets is the Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka, one of the pioneers in the concept of seed balls.
“Masanobu Fukuoka did a lot of research on the concept of seed balls for forest propagation and this is one of the safest options for having higher germination and to prevent the seeds from getting rotten by getting exposed to the outside temperature or eaten by the birds and insects,” says Joshi.
“These seeds remain preserved under the soil and germinated when it gets the right vegetation. The technique of seed balls was widely used to create large-scale forestation in Thailand, Africa, Japan, and other places,” he adds.
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According to Nutan Dwivedi, another member of Gram Art Project, in order to give it a perfect shape of firecrackers and sweets, the team of Gram Art Project did a lot of research to learn how to make it from recycled materials. Then they trained the village women who helped in the production work.
“Women from 40 families across 10 villages near Madhya Pradesh State’s Chhindwara district helped in making these. We started the production in September and created 11,000 firecrackers and sweets,” Dwivedi tells Sputnik.
“These women earned somewhere around $26- $50 (INR 2,000-6,000) per month, depending upon the number of hours they would put in,” she adds.
One firecracker costs $0.47 (INR 37) and an assortment will be around $3.35 (INR 250), excluding delivery charges.
People liked it so much that within two weeks it was sold out.
“We got an overwhelming response and the women of our villages are overjoyed by this. Now they are preparing for Christmas and New Year and planning to make something special and different,” Dwivedi says.
Another artist, Tanika Bansal from Haryana State’s Panchkula city, also experimented with a similar concept and made seed bombs that will grow into plants. She used varieties of seeds of flowers and vegetables.
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"These don’t burst. These sprout into plants. It is an initiative to motivate people to plant trees and not blow up firecrackers," Bansal says.
Going by demand, the trend of seed firecrackers is likely to become a regular affair and more popular during festivals.
