Asian farmers visit Karnataka’s natural farms

Tuesday, November 2^nd

Chandra Van, Srirangpatnam.

Tilly Gifford

Stephanie Wang

The group was warmly welcomed in Chandra Van Ashram

This morning, 41 people left Bangalore in direction of Mandya District. The delegation included farmers and social movement activists from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea, Mexico and India. They are all part of the international peasant movement, La Via Campesina. The legendary Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha (KRRS) and South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements (SICCFM) are hosting this natural farm visit, coordinating an itinerary of successful sites of natural farming. 

 In Kikkeri, the delegation was welcomed with drums, flowers and an inauguration ceremony. 

The first natural farm visited was Nandini and Jairam's Jaladharshini farm, in Mandagere. It might seem a strange sight to see Nepali, Sri Lankans and a Korean group complete with translators assembled to study three large vats of cow dung. But in fact, this is Jeevamrutha, one of the key pillars of Zero budget natural farming (ZBNF), the method popularized by Subhash Palekar. To Afsar Jafri's question of the trigger of them moving away from chemical farming, Nandini and Jairam shared how they didn't feel like eating their own chemically mediated tomatoes anymore. It seemed unethical to feed humankind with poisonous food.

A lot of technical information was swapped between farmers, especially about input cost and return.

After lunch, the group visited Mudhu Kumar's sugarcane field in Sindaguatta near KRPett. Without any input except jeevamrutha, the sugarcane grew prodigiously tall and sweet.

Under a rainy sky, Soma Sekhar explained the inner-workings of his 9 meters length bio-digester, under the gaze of the delegation. We were then showed the mulberry plantation which feeds the hearty, fat silk worms.

Heavy thunderstorm meant the visit to Manju's farm skipped and the caravan accepted hospitality in Muddu Kumar's house where they were served tea and snacks.

 Another tea ceremony was provided by fellow KRRS members, eager to meet the international farmers.

Finally, the delegation arrived in Chandravan Ashram in Srirangpatnam where they enjoyed the river bank before attending a ritual at the temple. Then, simple but delicious food was served and the guests retreated for the night.