Newsletter November 2021

Dear Subscribers,

Every time we share with you the stories on the lives we impacted, we realize how a small initiative that began 10 years ago, has become a journey of numerous farmers from hopelessness to sustainability.
This Giving Tuesday, while we bring to you our impact stories of this year, we are filled with immense gratitude towards our donors and partners who help us make it happen.

As you read more below, we humbly request you to consider donating to Save Indian Farmers so we can continue to make a difference!

Click here to make a donation!

Horticulture, Tamil Nadu

We partnered with PEAS Trust in the Tiruchirappalli area to train farmers on farming techniques like vermicomposting, Panchagavya, usage of herbal pesticides and garlic extracts that helped avoiding the falling of flowers and stimulated the growth of the plants.

The farmers were guided on marketing and introduced to experts from the Dept. of Horticulture to work with them and maximize their income.

D Vasugi from Tiruchirappalli Tamil Nadu is one of the beneficiaries of our Organic farming initiative in collaboration with PEAS Trust, India. Training from PEAS Trust helped her yield 50 kg of tomatoes every 3 days that sold for Rs.600, 10 kg of chili every 10 days that sold for Rs. 700and 15 kg of lady’s finger every other day that sold for Rs. 450. Read full story here

Meet Pugalenthi, another small farmer from Tiruchirappalli, who was trained under our Horticulture initiative with PEAS Trust.
He was provided seeds for 4 vegetables, trays to put up nurseries, raw materials, containers and bio fertilizers to raise crops. He is now able to make a weekly income of Rs. 2000 – 2200. Read full story here

Soybean farming helped by Kisan Mitra

In June, as a response to a call on our helpline from Shantiwan Foundation we partnered with them to support the farmers in Beed, Maharashtra by distributing soybean, tur (lentils) and bajra seeds.

The 7 farmers who benefitted from our soybean seed distribution harvested an average yield of 10 quintal per acre. The lentils and bajra are yet to be harvested. 

Organic Farming, Tumkur

We have achieved a full cycle milestone for organic farming in Tumkur region with our new Organic Outlet formed in joint venture with Avishkar this Dussehra. The outlet provides a marketplace to 112 organic farmers who are members of our FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) formed over the last couple years. About 70% farmers are attending training programs and using our inputs to reduce farming cost by Rs. 12000 per year/farmer.

This has helped develop more interest in the farmers for horticulture and SIF farmers are being invited by the gram panchayat to provide training to other farmers under the Mahatma Gandhi training program. Cheers to the beginning of conversion from chemical farming to organic farming!

Horticulture and Polyhouses, Uttarakhand

In Uttarakhand we are promoting horticulture by establishing polyhouses and distributing seeds and saplings to small and marginal farmers in partnership with UANA. A free Health Camp was organized in the Dhonri village with the help of Dr Atul Negi.

About 1400 fruit plants were distributed along with vegetable, turmeric and ginger seeds. We also distributed seeds to Adarsh ​​women’s group Dharasu. A skill development center was started in Devikhet, Dabralsyun earlier this year and set up a polyhouse.

Mr. Pawan Negi, one of our beneficiaries of the polyhouse initiative in Devikhet. He has planted red and yellow bell peppers supplied by UF – SIF to test the ones that may be best suited for optimal income generation. He also plans to discuss the advantages of using polyhouses to grow vegetables in a controlled environment with other farmers in the area.

Pond renovation, Madhya Pradesh

50-70 acres of land can be irrigated with a pond that we recently renovated in Panari village, Damoh. 15-18 farmer households will be directly benefited by this renovation. Additionally, this water can be used to serve cattle. Other benefits of this renovation include household usage and increasing ground water levels.

Video showing work in progress for the pond renovation in Panari Village

Krishi Samarthya, Karnataka

We started a new project Krishi Samarthya in Dharwad District, Karnataka with Belgaum Diocesan Social Service Society to support 90 small and marginal farmers from 15 villages in adopting organic farming and multi cropping. A children’s forum was also formed which consists of 15 children from the farmer families to spread awareness on environmental issues and children’s rights. Other planned activities include building rainwater harvesting structures, soak pits for wastewater treatment and the creation of alternative livelihood models such as vermicompost and poultry farming.

Other Updates

We trained 44 farmers in 6 villages of Nellore on organic farming and provided micro loans to 6 women through Manaswini.

Our future plans include but are not limited to the following:

• Continue efforts in Shohratgarh to help farmers in marketing and selling their produce and making the FPO self-reliant.
• Plant 3000 trees supporting 15-20 beneficiaries as part of Sankalptaru project.

Consider donating to Save Indian Farmers this Giving Tuesday!

Click here to make a donation!

Getting Inspired

We leave you this time with a very inspiring story from Vaghdhara Sanstha, which depicts how with a deep affinity for diversity and resilience, women play the most important role as the custodians of this vast diversity of indigenous seeds. Read here about how this women empowered group of farmers in Rajasthan is striving to ensure that the practice of conserving climate-tolerant traditional seeds continues.

We hope you all stay safe and healthy! 

Yours Sincerely,

Jitendra Karkera
President, Save Indian Farmers
www.saveindianfarmers.org