Staff News & Events
GENETIC RESOURCE ECOLOGY ENERGY NUTRITION FOUNDATION
The underlying philosophy of GREEN Foundation(GF) has been to accept traditional knowledge with its technical, social, and spiritual dimensions to encourage endogenous development within the community.
GREEN Foundation has now been working over a decade in close participation with the local community and individual farmers to Conserve Biodiversity and Improve Food Security. From a starting point which concentrated on the identification and conservation of traditional seed varieties of millets and paddy which were fast disappearing from the local farms, GF activities have progressed to reviving traditional storage and exchange of seeds through Community Seed Banks, to the revival of traditional agricultural methods reintroduced in conjunction with modern organic techniques. It has encouraged the creation of Kitchen Gardens, the one-acre integrated farming practice and Community Farming for landless and marginal farmers. It has also promoted Integrated Agroforestry and Livestock Management to meet the communities' needs for fodder and fuel and to Reduce Dependence on External Inputs.
Conserving & Enhancing Natural Resources has clearly been an essential element of these programmes as has Training & Infrastructure Creation as active participation by the community is essential for sustainability.
GREEN Foundation is now involved in encouraging Biodiversity Based Income Generation schemes and setting up Community Marketing arrangements for ecological agriculture products and craft products, grains and seed.
Advocacy and Lobbying are also important activities. In developing linkages with various regional, national and international organisations to create awareness of the issues GF faces, GF has been able to make a significant contribution to the development of organic farming policy of the Government of Karnataka. Work on a Community Seed Bank Network has established strong regional links with other organisations engaged in natural resource management and to effect further change GF organises national level seminars, workshops, and conferences.
Community Seed Banks are a holistic development starting with collection,
multiplication and conservation of seed in farmer's fields, to storage
in a seed bank. Seed preservation has traditionally been the women's
role and their knowledge on seeds and sowing was extensive, from selection
of seeds, soil suitability, to choice of crops suitable to local conditions.
GF has reinvigorated and formalised the traditional practices of giving
seeds and returning double the original quantity, thereby reversing
the trend of reducing diversity in villages. A decade of nurturing of
GF has resulted in the widening of the gene pool and the improvement
of the potential of landraces.
Fifty community seed banks with an average of 15 - 20 mainly women members
now conserve approximately 43 varieties of Finger Millets, 84 Paddy,
24 Sorghum, 44 Minor Millets, 53 Pulses, 14 Oilseeds, 4 Wheat and 116
Vegetable seeds.
The integration of livestock into agriculture and livestock breeding both reduces the dependence on external inputs and augments the income generating opportunities of the community.
In order to ensure sustainable farming, dependency on external inputs must be significantly reduced and opportunities for income generation created. GF has initiated vermicomposting, production and use of trichoderma, and plant based bio-pesticides. These activities, plus livestock development and agroforestry, initiated by GF to reduce the need to purchase external fertilizers and pesticides have now also provided communities with opportunities for generating income as production is increased for sale to other farms and villages.
The work of Community Seed Banks and other work has focused the activities of existing sanghas (Self Help Groups) and encouraged the formation of more groups. Members of these groups now elect representatives to Seed Bank Committees and Federations to co-ordinate and guide the activities of the sanghas.
Farm level bio-diversity cannot be conserved in the long run without community participation. GF has set up and run many training courses, workshops and demonstrations in both technical & managerial fields to increase the local skill base.
