We are a small, but continuously growing team of farmers and friends in the field of sustainable development working with a central aim of empowering rural smallholder farmers and citizens to be at the vanguard of their own forward moving development. Our vision is to strengthen rural farming and village livelihoods through promoting ecological farming practises and cooperative businesses that work through sustainable collaborations. All of our work is underpinned by sharing knowledge and skills to empower rural citizens.
The back-bone of all of our operations is the promotion of sustainable, and where possible, regenerative food production. We want to help farmers and households understand and adopt affordable organic methods that are complimented with permaculture principles and traditional techniques.
Aranya Eco Village is trying to contribute towards changing the status quo. We want to bring fresh ideas that draw on traditional knowledge to pockets of rural Bihar & Tamil Nadu.
Our current journey
Aranya Eco Village Farm, Tamil Nadu
The village of S.Thattanapalli is where Aranya Eco Village farm is situated. It is an agricultural village and many households’ income depend directly and indirectly on the market prices they are competing with at the time of harvest.
Aranya Eco Village farm is a collaborative organic, permaculture operation which hosts volunteers and visitors through Workaway, and has been a place of education and training for many small scale farmers to look at ways they can move away from chemical farming. The ecological benefits of organic farming are becoming widely recognised across India, evident in the increasing number of small and large-scale operations reverting back to traditional techniques, using methods that were created through centuries of observation and careful alterations via natural means.
Permaculture Agroforestry & Seed Bank, Bihar
In Bihar, we are setting up an agro-forestry farm which will utilise organic, permaculture methods to producee both crops to sell and crops to harvest seeds from to start up a village seed bank. The basis of the farm and seed bank is to enable native seed species to be reintroduced into use by local people. The area of Bihar we work in lacks any seed banks offering traditional varieties that are characteristically harmonious with the local environmental conditions.
It will turn a revenue to keep it afloat, but this is not the core aim of the project. The farm will be a hub for education and training to be offered to local people, in particular, local farmers.
This project is in it’s early stages and will be updated as it progresses.
Community Supported Agriculture Farming & Natural Soap Making, Bihar
Educational Outreach & Training, Tamil Nadu and Bihar
Farmer Training Initiatives, All of India
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©2021 Aranya Eco Village.
References:
Aljazeera News, 2015. On the ‘Cancer Train’ of India’ Pesticides. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/01/cancer-train-india-pesticides-20151411811508148.html
De Ponti, T., Rijk, B. and Van Ittersum, M.K. 2012. The crop yield gap between organic and conventional agriculture. Agricultural systems, 108, pp.1-9.
FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2017. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017. Building resilience for peace and food security. Rome, FAO. http://www.fao.org/3/a-I7695e.pdf
Isra, M., Khan, H., Jan, D. and Ahmad, N. 2014. Livelihood Diversification: A Strategy for Rural Income Enhancement. Journal of Finance and Economics 2(5), pp.194-198.
Lakra, K., Kumar, P. and Kushwaha, S., 2014. Sustainable agriculture and rural livelihood security in India. Journal of Science, 4(10), pp.625-631.
Mader, P., Fliessbach, A., Dubois, D., Gunst, L., Fried, P. and Niggli, U., 2002. Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming. Science, 296(5573), pp.1694-1697.
Oyinbo, O. and Olaleye, K.T., 2016. Farm Household Livelihood Diversification and Poverty Alleviation in Giwa Local Government Area of Kadunu State, Nigeria. Consilience, (15), pp.219-232.
Ponisio, L.C., M’Gonigle, L.K., Mace, K.C., Palomino, J., de Valpine, P. and Kremen, C., 2015. Diversification practises reduce organic to conventional yield gap. In Proc. R. Soc. B. 282,(1799), pp.20141296.
Aranya Eco Village 