The farmers in the village of Kummarigudem, near Mallikudurla want to form a collective so that they can leave chemical agriculture behind and return to a natural and sustainable method of farming, called Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF). It’s a brave undertaking, as this is a new method of agriculture for the farmers.

The first steps have already been taken … Latest

Our Association, Sankranti e.V. is supporting this small village in Telangana through our current project Village of HOPE. We want to motivate other farmers in India and prove that, despite the competition on the world market, it is still possible to practice agriculture that won’t contaminate the soil, is good for humans and animals, and will ultimately produce food that is healthier for all of us.

In India more than 300,000 farmers have committed suicide out of desperation since 1995. This is what has motivated us to set up our project.

 

 

The farmers cultivate their land by hand, and it is usually no larger than 1 or 2 acres (0.6 -1.2ha). The competition on the global market makes things seem hopeless. Should these farmers give up? We want to help them defend their right to an independent and sustainable way of living and working.

Please support this unique project, Village of HOPE. Most of the farmers in India no longer see a way out.

Photos and news from the Village of HOPE in Latest

 

Village of Hope…

…is the name of our project. We’ve joined forces and set an objective. We being

• a village in India named Kummarigudem,
• the MAHARSHI GOSHALA CHARITABLE TRUST, an Indian NGO and
• a small association in Berlin called Sankranti e.V.

We want Kummarigudem to be a beacon of hope. The village was carefully chosen by the Goshala Trust, our Indian partner organisation. The preconditions were that there should be a consensus in the village and that the decision to change their farming method would come from the farmers themselves. The method in question, ZBNF (Zero Budget Natural Farming) is not new to Kummarigudem, and in fact one farmer has been carrying it out successfully for five years!

Our aims are:

• that every family becomes independent from chemical farming.
• that every farmer introduces the sustainable Zero Budget Natural Farming Method.
• to promote biodiversity.
• that the organic food yields fair prices.
• that the quality of the food (without chemicals) keeps improving, and with it, the health of the people.
• That the farmers will never again be taken in by the agro-industry’s deceptions.

And their implementation:

In March 2018, 27 Indian cows and their calves were donated to the village. And there are more to come. This is the first step and is the basis of the ZBNF method. There is more information about this initiative in Latest.

262 people live in Kummarigudem in 52 families. On one evening during our first visit to the village, we gathered with all the women and children at the small Hanuman temple. “We feel like one big family!” said one of the old women, and the others all agreed with her.

 

 

The village is made up entirely of Hindus and there is a small Hanuman temple that they restored a few years ago. It is an advantage that they all belong to the “Potters” caste, and so for them it is a joy to live together in a community. In the village everybody supports each other.

 

“We feel like one big family!”

In addition we were able to organise and finance the following initiatives, thanks to your many donations -see November 2019

As of the end of 2018 three experienced ZBNF trainers were regularly conducting training and carrying out field visits every ten days. The first training session has already taken place and the trainer from Andhra Pradesh was very enthusiastic about the project and the interest shown by the 56 participants. He said “The women particularly showed a lot of interest.”

see Farming method