Genetic, Resource, Energy, Ecology, Nutrition
GREEN Foundation is a community based organisation working with disadvantaged groups of small and marginal farmers, backward castes, tribals and dalits, especially women, in the semi-arid regions of South India, towards the conservation of agro biodiversity and the promotion of sustainable agriculture.
GREEN Foundation’s intervention commenced as a modest effort with five women farmers and a handful of seeds in Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu in 1996. With its passion, commitment and dedication to conservation of bio diversity and improvement in livelihoods of marginal and subsistence farmers, its activities are currently spread in different district of Karnataka and agroecological regions. (Homepage).
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Address: GREEN Foundation, P.O.Box No. 7651, No. 30, ‘Surya’, 4th Main, 19th Cross, BTM II Stage, N. S. Palya, Near SMC Kalyana Mantapa, Bangalore – 560 076, INDIA;
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About: The Genetic Resources, Ecology, Energy, and Nutrition (GREEN) Foundation is a community-based organization that has been working since the early 1990s with small and marginal farmers in Thally Block, Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu and Kanakapura Taluka, Ramanagara district, Karnataka.
We began our activities with a handful of seeds and a small but committed group of five women farmers. To date we have expanded our work to about 4200 households spread across 109 villages.
During the past 15 years, our core work—conserving agricultural biodiversity and preserving cultural diversity—has increased technical knowledge and created widespread awareness among farmers in the area. Soil- and moisture-conservation technologies, improved composting techniques, promotion of appropriate agricultural practices, participatory « on-farm » research, establishment of community-managed seed banks of locally adapted seed varieties, and strategic marketing of « value-added » produce have made a positive impact by increasing productivity, enhancing the diversity of agricultural ecosystems, and bolstering the incomes and livelihoods of the communities involved.
A spin-off of these interventions has been the establishment of kitchen gardens around homesteads, which has resulted in enhanced food and nutritional security. Through a network of carefully chosen partners in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, we are expanding our community seed-banking concept to benefit marginalized communities in diverse agro-climatic regions in southern India … (full text about).