GREEN GRANTS – ORGANIC FARMING PROJECT (SOUTH 24 PARGANAS)

The project aims at reconstructing and revitalizing the relationship between farmers and their lands. This would mean exploring and understanding agriculture as a way of life, and as a source of sustenance (not exploitation and extraction) towards humanizing the relationship between people and their land.

The project will identify 50 farmers, willing to learn and practice organic farming and dedicate a small portion of their land to this purpose. A nursery will be developed using the organic farming methodology. We will connect with existing organic farming practitioners of the state, village elders who have abundant knowledge about traditional agriculture, and agricultural scientists who are experts in this field.

They will conduct workshops on traditional agriculture and organic farming exploring the rich potential of this knowledge, attended by the identified farmers. In other words, the sociology behind agricultural traditions, science behind associated rituals, and its base in Indian village society would be discussed to give context to practice. Play-making workshops and Forum Theatre performances on traditional agriculture, organic farming, technological interventions etc. will take place simultaneously.

The farmers will be identified from 4 anchal Panchayats from Pathar Pratima block of South 24 Parganas district namely Digambarpur, Ramganga, Sri Narayanpore, Gangadharpur. Three satellite Forum Theatre teams of Jana Sanskriti will reach the population of 25000 in the villages under the above mentioned Panchayats. They will perform plays on farming as a science and as an art.

Finally, opportunities to market the crops produced by the farmers would be explored as a source of livelihoods.