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SAS2 Introductory Workshop
SAS2 Introductory Workshop held in Bangalore during 11-13 February, 2010. SAS2 is a new approach to collaborative inquiry grounded in action and currently used by practitioners around the world from villages to boardrooms. It provides an integrated collection of practical tools to engage people and mobilize knowledge in complex settings involving multiple stakeholders. For details click here |
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 National Consultation on Farmers' Rights to Genetic Resources
- Stewardshio or Ownership?
22nd May 2009, NIAS Auditorium, Bangalore
23rd May 2009, Seminar Hall, Jnanajyothi Auditorium, Central Collage, Bangalore.
Organised by
GREEN Foundation, Bangalore
Centre for Gandhian Studies, Bangalore University.
For more details on reports click here |
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Organic farming Training and Workshop
Pyramid Valley, Kanakapura
June 4th 2009 to June 8th 2009
The green revolution era has paved a way for increased use of fertilizers and pesticides harming the soil and water and the food consumed. A price hike in the fertilizers and other chemical inputs but low yields and crop failures have led to increased farmer suicides and indebtedness. There is a need for creating a sustainability in agriculture and adopt a farming system which will cover all the inputs within the farm. In the backdrop of this grim scenario GREEN Foundation in collaboration with ICCOA organized a five day workshop on Organic farming training and workshop at Pyramid Valley, Kebbedoddi. The training aimed at inspiring the farmers to shift from conventional agriculture to sustainable agriculture. The training also aimed at helping the organic farmers in increasing their knowledge about organic farming. This was a five day in house training where the main goal was to equip the participants with all the necessary tools of successful organic farming.
The training programme was divided into sessions. Each session included both theoretical and live demonstrations of the sustainable practices. Resource persons from various organizations and GREEN Foundation Officers jointly addressed the concerns and problem areas of the participants and trained them on different sustainable practices.
Based on some criteria like similarity in farming conditions, variety of crops grown, limiting factors etc. the farmers were divided into groups. Each of these groups were asked to present the general problems they encounter and how they address these problems. The training programme was tuned to address their concerns. This made the training more effective.
The session on Introduction to Organic Agriculture and Management of agriculture Ecosystemsdealt with the following.
- What is organic agriculture?
- Why organic agriculture - do we really need to make a shift?
- Steps towards organic agriculture
- Benefits of organic agriculture - social, ecological and environmental, health, economic etc
- Presentations were shown.
The session on Soil Nutrient Management included the topics
Mulching, green manuring, intercropping, use of bio-fertilizers, composts, different methods of composting, liquid manures, preparation of jeevamrutha, panchagavya and other herbal extracts, EM, oil cakes, vermicomposting, vermiwash etc. This session laid emphasis on why it is important to maintain soil fertility and how to do it with resources available within the farming system.
The session on Pests and Diseases was more detailed and informative. The objectives was to equip the farmers to identify the most common and frequent pests and diseases they encounter in their crops and also have an understanding of how to deal with sudden outbreaks of a particular disease or pest. This is very crucial, since most farmers who are "fence-sitters" will resort to chemical methods of pest and disease control when faced with an emergency situation.
The farmers were told of alternate methods of pest control - use of locally available plant species for pest and disease control, companion planting techniques, bio-pesticides, pheromone traps, fermented extracts, timing of farm operations and farming activities etc. information on threshold levels of pests, creating micro-climates that allow for natural predator-pest cycles to be established. It is usually a combination of techniques that work, so the farmer must be made aware of this.
The session on Harvest, Post harvest, Quality control, Value addition and Marketing was the important session as it covered on topics like why it is important to ensure that their produce is of exceptional quality. Marketing is, most often, a neglected component in training programmes even though it plays a major role in the amount of income generated from farming. A lot has been said about how 'producers' never get their due share in the profits. One of the main reasons for this is due to the neglect or absence of a proper marketing strategy It is important that the forward and backward linkages are well established so that farmers can see tangible benefits of switching to organic agriculture.
Another neglected area is how the produce is harvested, packed and presented to the end consumer. The concept of 'value addition' at the farm level to increase income from agriculture was also discussed.
The session on PGS and formal certification helped the farmers to make an informed choice about the process they would like to adopt. The farmers were made aware of organic farming mission initiated by the Government of Karnataka.
The last session was on biodynamic methods of intervening in organic agriculture. the theory and practical sessions included the sun and moon calendar for sowing, biodynamic preparations like cow horn manure, cow pat pit and heap method of composting which the farmers can immediately adopt in their practices
All the sessions were packed with powerful powerpoint presentations and live demonstrations and strong interactions among the participants and the resource persons.
The last session was the feed back session where the participants were asked to identify the effectiveness of the training to basically see how to improve training methods and structures.
Our heartfelt acknowledgement and gratitude to all the resource persons who made the training on organic farming a huge success
- Mr. Santosh Koulagi
- Ms. Shylaja - DG
- Mr. Srikanth - AME
- Dr. Daniel - CCD
- Dr. Rudraradhya - JSS
- Mr. Uday Kumar - Spencer's
- Mr. Mahesh Melvin - Earth trust
- Mr. Ningappa - GF
- Mr. Shivanna - GF
- Dr. Ravindra Kulkarni - GF
Click here to view report
Click here to download report - Kananda version |
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Beeja Mela 2009
 On 26th January 2009, Beejamela (Seed fair) a traditional fair to celebrate indigenous varieties conservation and production was organized at Veeraiahanadoddi seed bank with the main objective of promoting vegetable seed production and fresh vegetable cultivation.
There were about 100 participants from different villages of our project area who attended this programme. There were about 62 men and 43 women. The whole programme was concentrated mainly on vegetable seed production and fresh vegetable production. There was a vast vegetable diversity displayed and seeds from the project area as well as from North Karnataka.
 Narayana Reddy, a progressive organic farmer from Doddaballapur was the chief guest and shared his farming experiences, difficulties in chemical farming and importance of sustainable farming. He highlighted the importance of organic matter in the soil which can be increased by addition of agricultural waste, farmyard manure and tank silt.
Participants from different area and all the guests were welcomed by Dr.Vanaja Ramprasad, Managing Trustee, GREEN Foundation who inaugurated the programme. Mr. Jayram from Era organics, Secretary, Jaivik society explained the marketing opportunities for the organically grown vegetables and food products. Since the GREEN Foundation project area is very near to Bangalore which has lot of customers for the organic products. Farmers can get more income by growing vegetables and food products organically.
 The poly house demonstration was conducted by Mr. Kalidas from Agrotech company and also explained the advantages of polyhouse over conventional method. He discussed with farmers regarding installation of polyhouse with locally available bamboo. He demonstrated polyhouse using bamboo and suggested the proper maintenance by less care. The net cultivable area in the poly house is around 250 sq feet. The yield level in the polyhouse is 3 to 4 times higher than conventional method with less pest and disease attack. Some of the farmers shared their experience and visited the polyhouse demonstration and discussed about installation and advantages of polyhouse and the programme was concluded by saying vote of Thanks. |
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Training on Backyard Poultry
The training on backyard poultry was organized in the village Sheetalwadi cluster, Madegowdanadoddi on 6th, 7th and 8th of February. The training was done by Anthra and group that works in the state of Andhra Pradesh on issues related to livestock.
The purpose of the training was to build capacity of farmers in rearing backyard poultry. Totally twenty individuals attended of whom sixteen were women. The training was based on the information provided by the participants.
The trainers explained the following features of Backyard poultry.
1. Basic identification of birds, varieties of local birds and their morphological characters.
2. Feeding quality and how to improve the feeding from the local resources.
3.How to avoid malnutrition of birds, deficiency of calcium the natural way to combat calcium deficiency and home made medicines and rearing good quality birds in their backyard.
The trainers explained the ways to maintain the birds nest, eggs, chick production methodology.
 For example:
Preperation of lemongrass bed in the nest was explained.Precautionary measures for maintaining the bird fences and water quality was explained, Indigenous methods like use of water with turmeric, Potassium permangate, garlic paste and onion paste was explained.
Second Day:
After a review of the first day's program all common diseases caused by bacteria, virus were explained and the precautionary measures with the use of herbal medicines, and allopathic and homeopathy medicines.
 The differences between vaccination and injection were explained.
Some of the common diseases dealt were Kokke roga, Fox fowl disease, Diarrhoea, Vitamin defeiciencies and worm infestation and their remedies.
Third Day :It was devoted to explaining the role of vaccination in preventing diseases in birds.
The following aspects were covered:
1) Importance of vaccination
2) Deworming in poultry birds
3) Common diarrhea in poultry birds
4) Procedure for vaccination
5) Information on contagious diseases.
The farmers feed back reflected the usefulness of such a program.
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Organic seedlings production
Organic seedlings production nursery for seeds and vegetable production in collaboration with Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Hessarghatta
Project Location: Kanakapur Taluka, Ramanagara District, Karnataka State, India
Back ground and scope of the project:
GREEN Foundation is one of the pioneers in area of organic seed conservation and agro-biodiversity conservation. GREEN Foundation wants to build up the strong baseline and livelihood security for the farmers in the project area by extending the work in organic seedling production for seeds and vegetable production
Kanakapura taluka has been identified as a strong vegetable growing area by Agricultural Department and Private companies. With this background, Janadhanya- Farmers federation is all set up to equip the village development Committee members with organic seedling production which will inturn provide livelihood security and employment opportunities for the rural youth.
Purpose:
Farmers of Kanakapura are already growing solanaceae and cruciferous vegetables i.e. Tomato, chilli, brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower etc. These seedlings are attacked by viral diseases at nursery stage when they are raised in open condition that results in poor establishment when grown in main field.
There is a need to grow the seedlings in controlled condition by covering the area with insect proof net. The seedlings provided from nursery are organically grown, free from pests and diseases and having better growing capacity compared to seedlings from traditional methods. The seedlings grown from traditional methods are proven to transplanting shock that can be avoided by using high-tech nursery technique.
Objectives:
1) To produce good quality organic seedlings to farmer community.
2) To produce pest and disease free seedlings
3) To avoid transplanting shocks of plants at main field.
4) To provide employment to rural youth
5) To give organic agriculture consultancy to rural community
6) To generate income to Village Development Committee
7) To get organic seeds from farmers by seed production and distribution system to other farmers, kitchen garden growers
8)To conserve traditional seeds
Goal:
The project is to setup an integrated Hi-tech Nursery for organic seedling production under insect proof net.
The project shall be one of its kind because of its concept of integration of various types of crops such as horticulture and agricultural seedlings.
Impact of the project:
1. Organically grown food is gaining momentum in the local as well as the international market. Farmers are encouraged to adopt organic seedling production as they are assured of the market.
2. Seedling grown under controlled condition will be more productive, pest and disease free, high quaity and an increased income provider.
Project and Expenditure Details:
Project location in Kanakapura Taluka, Ramanargar distritict, Karnatka, India
This project is planned to implement with Malleshwara VDC members of Kolalagundi village.
The area of nursery is 14m X 7m. Area is donated by one of the VDC member.
VDC members will take charge of sowing, watering, trenching,spraying and selling of the seedlings
The total capacity of seedlings is 40,000 at a time. Seedlings will take 25-30 days to grow per season. Seedling production therefore will be around 12 times in a year.
The shade net is donated by Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Hessaraghatta, Bangalore, and India.
Village Development Committees will bear the remaining expenditure for construction and other inputs.
Total Expenditure of Nursery
| Sl.No |
Items |
Quantity |
Rate |
Total cost |
| 1 |
Wodden pillars 10”feet |
12 |
150/- |
1800.00 |
| (VDC)2 |
Trays |
200 No. |
11.5/- |
2300.00 |
| 3 |
Cocopeat |
10 bags |
140/- |
1400.00 |
| 4 |
Polythene (3 types) |
- |
- |
1970.00 |
| 5 |
Cement, primer paint and sand |
- |
- |
940.00 |
| 6 |
G I Wire |
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1388.00 |
| 7 |
Watering jar |
1 |
250/- |
250.00 |
| 8 |
Labour |
18 no. |
100/- |
1800.00 |
| 9 |
Transportation |
- |
- |
978.00 |
| 10 |
Net (Donated by IIHR) - Rs. 6600 |
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Total cost |
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12826.00 |
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Management of Nursery:
1) Two persons who are the members of VDC will maintain the nursery.
2) They have to pay 5% of service charge on total income upto 3 batches. After 3 batches the VDC will revise service charge upto 10% till completion of one year.
3) Seedlings will be distributed to Mallesha VDC members at subsidised rate of 10 paise as compared to other buyers.
4) The VDC has to repay the loan amount within one year without interest.
After one year any other interested member can take in charge to run the nursery when they take on the nursery the responsibilities are as follows:
1) A new in charge person has to give the new service charge which will be decided in the VDC meeting.
2) The particular VDC members will be eligible to obtain seedlings at a subsidised rate of 10 paise as compared to other buyers.
3) Incharge person have to be responsible to pay water and land charge what ever the amount decided at VDC meeting with the presence of land contributor.
| a) |
Contribution from project side |
Rs. 11,000.00 |
| b) |
VDC Contribution |
Rs. 1800.00 |
| c) |
Shade Net (Donation from IIHR) |
Rs. 6600.00 |
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Total project cost |
Rs. 19400.00 |
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The amount provided from project should be repaid to Janadhanya within the stipulated time.
The VDC will be responsible to repay the amount which is expenditure incurred towards installation of shade net nursery. The actual expenditure amount is Rs.11,000.00/- that amount will be paid to Janadhanya federation, in one year at 6 installments.
The loan repaid details are as follows:
1)Loan amount to Janadhanya - Rs. 11,000.00
2)Loan repayment period - 1 year
3)No. of installments - 6
4)Frequency of repayments - once in 2 months
5)Installment amount - Rs. 2000 per installment up to 5 installments
6)Last installment - Rs.1000/-
Mode of Repayment
The VDC will repay the loan amount by cheque of concerned VDC to Janadhanya account. Janadhanya federation will issue receipt in favor of Malleshwara VDC.
In the month of:
| June 2009 |
Rs.2000/- |
| August 2009 |
Rs.2000/- |
| October 2009 |
Rs.2000/- |
| December 2009 |
Rs.2000/- |
| February 2010 |
Rs.2000/- |
| April 2010 |
Rs.1000/- |
| Total |
Rs.11,000/- |
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If the responsible person has taken full nursery for raising seedlings they can raise 40,000/- seedlings at one time. One seedling will cost about 0.35 Rs. The gross income will be Rs.14,000/ batch.
Expenditure per batch:
| Sl.No |
Expenditure |
Rupees |
| 1 |
Cocopeat - 400 kgsX5 |
2000.00 |
| 2 |
Labour sowing - 40,000 seedlings |
500.00 |
| 3 |
Labour for watering, spraying, drenching, weeding/thinning |
3000.00 |
| 4 |
Seed cost 250 gm/batch |
350.00 |
| 5 |
Land, water charge for one batch |
250.00 |
| 6 |
Other organic compounds |
250.00 |
| 7 |
Transportation and miscellaneous expenditure |
500.00 |
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Total |
6850.00 |
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Net income == Rs.14,000.00 - Rs.6850.00 == Rs.7150.00
Service charge to VDC will be Rs.357.00 for one batch. |
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Farmers, Livelihood and Trade - A seminar cum workshop.
For more details click here |
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Community Based Biodiversity Management
For more details click here |
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