Manoj Jamui
Address: Greenpeace India, No.338, 8th Cross, BTS Main Rd, Vinayaka Nagar, NGO Colony, Wilson Garden, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560027
Suneeta Devi is a farmer from Kedia village in Bihar. Suneeta and her family have been working the fields for generations, taking great pride in putting food on the plates of families around the country. Food that - in the past few years - has been increasingly laden with the pesticides and chemical fertilisers we now recognise as slow poisons. But Suneeta's community has found a way out of the chemical crisis: by (re)turning to traditional ways of farming without chemicals, and adopting innovative ecological solutions like vermicomposting, biomass and organic inputs like neem, cowdung, even human waste collected from EcoSan-toilets and turned into pest management solutions and rich soil nutrients. Effectively redefining 'progressive farming'!
Watch this video to see Suneeta’s village - now being talked of as ‘The Kedia Model’:
In a short span of two years the Kedia model has seen,
96 farmer families championing the cause of eco-agriculture
282 vermi-composting units installed in Kedia
42.6% reduction in chemical fertiliser usage
95.2% farmers saving on input cost
100% farmers have switched to ecological pest management solution
ZERO negative impact on yield.
Today, these heroes could use your help.
We are asking you to help these heroes by crowdfunding two long-term investments that will allow the Kedia Model to stabilise, scale up, and weather the unexpected drought conditions that have hit farmlands across 25% of India.
Help Suneeta’s community build resilience against climate change and fluctuating market conditions, by donating towards a solar-powered cold storage unit and water harvesting structures.
How the solar-powered cold storage will help:
Over 40% of farm produce gets wasted due to a lack of storage space in India. A majority of our farmers are small and marginal, who cannot afford storage or water harvesting structures, even with subsidies.
With a solar-powered cold storage system, Kedia farmers will be able to:
- Extend the shelf life of their produce and cope with market-rate fluctuations. No more exploitative prices, no more rotting vegetables!
- Receive higher returns on the ecologically produced food, adding to their financial security.
- Save their own seeds (of crops like potato)
As a big plus, being a solar-powered unit dependent on clean energy, the cold storage will be a truly sustainable solution to Kedia’s storage crisis.
By donating towards the water harvesting structure, you will be helping Suneeta’s community to cope with the current drought, build resilience against unpredictable monsoon, and withstand the effects of climate change.
You’ve heard the heart-rending stories about this year’s drought that affected 25% of India. More than 330 million people in ten states are reeling under the impacts of this drought: severe water shortage, crop losses, and the resultant loss of both livestock and human lives.
These are the farmers who are, literally, feeding our futures. They’ve shown such courage in trying a new way of farming for a better, safer future.
It’s your turn to support them now!
How your donations will be used:We need Rs.15 Lakh to help install the eco-frost cold storage and water harvesting structures in Kedia.
- MRP of the EcoFrost (after 30% subsidy): Rs. 8.1 Lakh
- Installation, transportation and maintenance cost of the eco-chiller: Rs. 2.9 Lakh
- Water harvesting structures: 9 shallow wells: (9 x Rs. 45000) = Rs. 4.05 Lakh
About EcoFrost:Ecofrost Technologies Private Limited have designed a pioneering and innovative micro Cold Storage- a solar powered cold storage system Ecofrost, works at zero running cost as a solution to the wastage of agricultural produce in India. The product is developed at the Science and Technology entrepreneurship Park (STEP) of IIT-Kharagpur.
The micro cold storage system has been tested and proved in a farmland in Karnataka. The product primarily designed for the rural segment serves their needs ideally, As it does not depend on grid electricity and after a 2-year breakeven, has lead to over 40% increase in their profits.
Farmers have already begun witnessing a landmark change in Kedia.
Be a part of this testimony! Contribute today!