A Market for Traditionally grown foods
 

Throughout the 1960s, India, like many Asian countries, encouraged its farmers to adopt new agriculture technologies aimed at helping food production keep pace with population growth. During that period, commonly referred to as the Green Revolution, productivity and yields increased in some crops, providing real gains in terms of food production.

Those technologies, however, were not well suited to small-scale farmers, who were nonetheless encouraged to adopt these new practices. Farmers concentrated their efforts on growing a handful of export crops, and found themselves relying heavily on chemical pesticides and fertilizers. As a result, there was alarming erosion in both biodiversity and soil fertility.

Overall, the damage caused by that model was tremendous, and farmers were left with a handful of varieties of food crops compared to what was available before.

Erosion of Skill and Biodiversity
Over many generations, the Indian farmers had developed production systems adapted to their marginal landscapes, but with the Green Revolution, they lost control over their seeds and the ability to make their own choices about what they grow.

Today, the government continues to promote the modernization of agriculture as a strategy to reduce poverty, so most of India’s small-scale farms are still involved in conventional agriculture, reliant on chemical inputs that they often cannot afford.

Many farmers are now shifting away from agriculture, selling their land and moving to urban areas in hope of earning abetter livelihood. There is an alternative.

Green Partnership
Since 1993, USC Canada has worked with the GREEN Foundation (short for the Genetic Resource Energy Ecology and Nutrition Foundation) in India. Working with farmers to document and spread their own traditional knowledge and skills, GF hopes to end the erosion of farmers’ traditional ecological knowledge and practices. To this end, GF promotes biodiversity and alternative farming approaches aimed at improving farm family food supplies and livelihoods.

 GF also uses on-farm conservation of diverse varieties of food crops as a means of building up seed supply systems at the community level. Farmers are involved at all stages of the process –from planning activities to collecting planting materials to managing conservation through the community seed banks.

Program Components
To promote sustainable farming, GREEN Foundation is working to reduce farmers’ dependence on external inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides. They are also trying to demonstrate that the government’s approach of promoting modern agriculture is not always the best choice for small-scale farmers. GF activities include:

• Training farmers on activities like composting and on the production of bio-fertilizers and pest-repellents
• Promoting biodiversity by helping farmers design and establish bio-intensive gardens
• Documenting traditional farming practices, and promoting not only their continued use but also efforts to adapt them to changing conditions.
• Encouraging local organic farmers to act as resource people, conducting on-farm trials, and running farmer field schools to help popularize sustainable farming practices.
• Working with farmers to establish a market for traditionally grown varieties and naturally grown products at competitive prices
• Fostering channels to market traditionally grown products through larger retail outlets, trade fairs, and exhibitions, creating wider consumer demand.

USC’s partnership with the GREEN Foundation is based in Bangalore, Southern India with programs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states.