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What’s really in our food? The question, which refused to cease in Sangita Sharma’s mind, compelled her to quit a rewarding career in the corporate sector 15 years ago, return to the roots, and explore the basics of food production. It didn’t take much time for her to understand the complexity of the process and the bad phase the farming sector was going through. She resolved to be a part of the farming community and address the agrarian crises that were haunting it.
Knowledge hub
With this thought, she, along with like-minded people, founded Annadana Soil and Seed Savers Network in Auroville in Puducherry in 2001. It started with a collection of 20 varieties of seeds sourced from different regions of the world. After extensive travel and exposure to various efforts, and training at different platforms, Sangita shifted to Gopathi Farms in Singapura village on the outskirts of Bengaluru, and started translating the concepts to the ground in 2007. During her research, Sangita had realised that seeds form the basis of food production and hence, preserving the rich biodiversity of heritage seeds became the core of her efforts. Thus evolved the concept of ‘Let’s Seed India’, which advocated crop diversity as the fundamental right of every one. The idea was to help growers revive heritage seeds using right methods.
Keeping this in mind, the initiative focused primarily on soil regeneration, seed conservation and eco-friendly farming. Of the 5 acres in the farm, 3 are reserved for seed production and 2 are set aside to grow food necessary for humans, cattle and soil. The farm exhibits a rich diversity of crops with about 26 species of vegetables, fruit plants, trees that provide biomass etc. And the farm has many varieties of each vegetable species like 48 tomato varieties, 22 varieties of brinjal and 19 varieties of lettuce. “Seed embodies freedom, diversity and cultural and historical memory,” says Sangita as she explains a seed cycle — from sowing through food production to seed conservation.
Her team follows meticulous and stringent methods while conserving seeds to ensure the purity and viability of the seed. Every season, it conserves seeds of about 90 varieties of vegetables by following open-pollination method, which is farmer- and nature-friendly. Rigorous observation, germination tests and careful documentation are part of the conservation process. In the process, the initiative conserves indigenous vegetable varieties as well.
The seed bank of Annadana has hundreds of heritage varieties. The seeds are either exchanged or sold at various platforms including seed fairs. “As farmers are losing their traditional knowledge and skills of seed conservation, there is a critical need for them to be re-skilled to become farmer researchers, seed savers and breeders,” opines Sangita.
Sustainable models
Along with seed conservation, the initiative has also been working at multiple
levels to create sustainable models to empower farmers. Its approach towards farming takes into account social, environmental and economic aspects.“We have to equip them with knowledge, which has eroded over the years for reasons that are obvious. Sometimes, it’s just validating and streamlining the knowledge that is inherent in them. If they are given the know-how, it’s just a matter of time for them to regain confidence and self-respect,” says Sangita.
To start with, she identified migrant farmers or those who were on the verge of migration, and invited them to work in the farm. At present, 20 people from 7 farmer families work and live in the farm. Most of them own land in their villages but quit farming as they felt it is not viable any more. With them, they have brought the knowledge of growing various crops. Sangita ensures that these farmers return to their village during monsoon, cultivate their land and that they don’t sell their property. Specialists in the field are involved in the capacity building of the farmers by understanding their inherent knowledge and engaging with them to evolve best practices in farming. As a result, the team at Gopathi Farms consists of crop specialists, farmer educators and seed conservation experts. Keshav, who worked in the corporate sector, came to know about the farm through his uncle who worked here.
He was inspired by Annadana’s vision, consciously left his job and joined the team. Now, this commerce graduate has become a specialist in pest and disease management.
Padma, who has completed PUC, eloquently explains various stages of a crop. Even those who don’t have formal education have become experts in their chosen field and know each other’s job as well. Above all, the farmers who are employed here are treated as stakeholders.
“The knowledge that we have acquired through exposure and training has made us confident and we can explain the process and its significance to all the visitors, irrespective of their expertise and status,” says Padma. Every family has maintained a kitchen garden and they get a share from the farm’s produce to meet their nutritional needs. Dairy and the crops in the farm — from vegetables to grains and pulses — meet the food requirements of its community. The excess produce and value-added products are sold at different organic outlets and farmer markets in the City. In 2009, Annadana initiated ‘My Right to Safe Food’ campaign to raise awareness about the choice of safe food and the dangers of genetically modified crops.
Efficient use of natural resources, specifically water and soil conservation, and a systematic approach towards cultivation with focus on crop diversity and crop rotation form the basis of farming here. The team has developed models that are eco-friendly, cost-effective, high-yielding and sustainable. Annadana has evolved as a platform for people to understand the intricacies of sustainable farming — from seed to seed.
The initiative is not funded by government or any private agency. To sustain the initiative, the team has designed various activities that are constructive and generate income as well. They include farm trails, which are popular among schools and farmers; internships, which attract students from across the country and even abroad; customised workshops on various topics like seed conservation, growing food and organic cooking. Its outreach programmes cater to people from different walks of life — for city-dwellers who wish to burn away their calories and breathe fresh air, it offers an opportunity to work in the farm during the weekends. Annadana also offers farm advisory services and training to both traditional farmers and new-age urban farmers; offers consultation services to individuals and organisations to develop sustainable farms and set up cost-effective, efficient seed banks. It has not been a smooth journey for Sangita, but her will and dedication has made her overcome all the odds and sail through successfully.
In 2015, Annadana extended its activities to the Western Ghats region, and has been experimenting in a 25-acre farm near Sagar. For more details, log on to annadana-india.org.