The heart of the project is the campaign, Grow Your Own Food, to counteract so-called ‘Climate-Smart Agriculture’ (CSA) techniques. CSA encourages the use of modified seeds, chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilisers, as well as high-risk technologies such as synthetic biology, nanotechnology and geoengineering. This imposition of new biotechnology has been particularly damaging for farmers in India. As one leading expert put it, “For the world’s small farmers, there is nothing smart about this. It is just another way to push corporate-controlled technologies into their fields and rob them of their land”.
The Grow Your Own Food campaign has two key components: a community learning element incorporating ecovillage and permaculture approaches, combined with seed preservation and the distribution of seedlings of various fruits and vegetables.
Monsoon is the real Minister of Agriculture of India as it controls the course of farming. This year, a late and insufficient monsoon has created difficulties for the kitchen gardens of the villagers. Instead of the usual two and half months of rain, the region received only 15 days. The women still managed to plant their saplings but the harvest was small. New water-use efficiency techniques for vegetable cultivation have been introduced through our training programmes and next year, biochar techniques will also be taught to keep up the moisture in the soil when there is no rain.
The constant change in the environment of our partners in the Global South creates an imperative for constant learning. However, learning is an organic, internal process and ultimately our role can only be to support the emergence of a locally adapted learning response.
Gaia Education is one voice amongst thousands calling and acting for climate justice. We join in solidarity with the women of Odisha who, in the face of looming crisis, are tackling climate change in their own dignified manner.