In his 50s, Madakam Unga, a Muria tribal farmer who migrated from Chhattisgarh and settled in the dense forests of the Godavari Valley, is still practising ‘deda’, a traditional method of preserving seeds that his ancestors handed over to his family.
All the 70 families in Chukkalapadu habitation in Chintoor Agency in Alluri Sitharama Raju district continue to practice the deda method, wherein the seeds are preserved in leaves and packed almost airtight to look like boulders from a distance. The packaged seeds are, in turn, woven with Siali leaf (Bauhinia vahlii), which is locally known as ‘addakulu’ to make the deda.
