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E T H I C A L L I V I NG P E RMACULTURE I N I ND I A Food Sovereignty Hannah Parathian and James Thorn talk to Indian permaculture pioneer Narsanna Koppula about how he is helping to secure food sovereignty for India’s rural populations Members of the Via Campesina movement coined the phrase ‘food sovereignty’ in 2006, to strengthen people’s rights across the world to have access to land and take control of their own food systems. For large numbers of peasant farmers globally this represents a significant move towards claiming back their culture, independence and livelihood. replied, ‘Did you see in the forest any trees that have been pruned?’ ‘No, sir,’ I replied. He told me, ‘The trees, they don’t like it. It is like you are cutting your fingers and your hands. You can’t stand properly if you cut your fingers, your arms and your legs. You cannot just do your own thing and the plants are the same. So you should not cut anything. Let them grow naturally. They will take their own shape. They will decide which side to grow, when to stop.” Narsanna went on to serve 12 years as Director and General Secretary of DDS, teaching communities how to apply permaculture to regenerate arid landscapes. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, in Southern India, landless tribes and marginalised farmers are being supported by an organisation dedicated to developing sustainable agricultural systems. Aranya (‘Forest’) Agricultural Alternatives was set up in 1999 by Narsanna Koppula, a permaculturist who has been working with rural communities for over 27 years. Through his work, food sovereignty is now replacing local dependency on commercial crop production. Farmers can grow healthier crops, people have access to more food, and communities are better nourished. A robust permaculture food system consists of a diverse range of perennial crops, with the inclusion of some staple annuals such as wheat and rice. Each of these elements provides specific and multiple functions within the system. A closed, self-sustaining cycle is created, without the need for external inputs. Working in cooperation with Nature and each Narsanna emphasises that for the peasant farmers of India the integration of animals also serves an important multifunctional role: “The animals are just like us and the plants. They have their multiple functions. They carry other is the answer Narsanna’s work is guided by the ethics and principles of permaculture, a holistic approach to designing selfsustaining ecosystems. It provides a framework for communities to create resilient and productive human habitats that work in harmony with Nature. In Narsanna’s own words, “By following the ethics of integrated ecosystems, sustainable agricultural livelihoods can be maintained.” Narsanna says that throughout his youth he questioned many of the ideals of modern Indian society. In 1985, as a student of philosophy and law, he was fortunate to meet the co-founders of the permaculture movement, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. He admits that at that time he had very little interest in or knowledge of permaculture: “I was simply interested to meet people from different walks of life, different economic backgrounds and different places.” At the same time, Narsanna met the agroecologist Dr Venkat, who would later become his great friend and mentor. In 1987 he volunteered at the Deccan Development Society (DDS), where Dr Venkat was teaching. They spent many productive mornings drinking tea and sharing ideas, and it was through these conversations and sessions that Narsanna began to cultivate his own understanding of permaculture. He recalls one memorable occasion: “Dr Venkat left his secateurs on the table. I took them and started pruning all the trees! The next day, when I said, ‘Good morning, sir,’ he out three levels of work and we feed and look after them. They provide money, dung and labour. If I have a goat or sheep I will look more at the excretion than at the meat. I will get meat only once, but throughout 15 years of life a buffalo can provide 15 years of compost! That is more than 10 times the value of the meat. So just like that we will integrate with the other species. In this way we work together. That is how life will go on. It is not possible for these communities to be totally dependent on agriculture.” Interspecies interactions of this kind are ingrained in rural Indian culture, just as many Indigenous peoples worldwide work with Nature to cultivate reciprocal relationships with other species. The advent of commercial agriculture, however, has made it harder for farmers to maintain an equilibrium, and their traditional farming methods are being lost. Aranya helps peasant farmers fight the impact of commercial crop production and its current monopoly over the Indian food system. Large corporations encourage farmers to borrow money to pay for commercial seeds, pesticides, fertilisers and machinery. These products come with the promise of greater yields and food security. Yet the reality is that these crops often fail due to their poor adaptation to 28 Resurgence & Ecologist November/December 2012
page 31
local climates and soil conditions. Once chemical fertilisers and pesticides are in the soil, more must be added each year to compensate, further degrading soil nutrients. With this system in place, farmers cannot easily switch back to natural farming methods. Mounting debts and the threat of starvation have led to an unprecedented level of suicide among Indian farmers, with an estimated 200,000 taking their lives in the last decade. Organisations like Aranya provide farmers with a lifeline to escape the trap of chemicaldriven agriculture. By following the basics of permaculture design farmers can once again feed themselves and earn an income through the sale of abundant crops. Asked what he considers to be the most important aspect of permaculture design, Narsanna talks about creating a system rich in diversity: “Thanks to natural diversity in landscapes we are able to find everything we need to sustain ourselves if we just let Nature take its course. For example, of the numerous seasonal weeds in India, 90% are highly nutritious and edible for humans, while the remaining 10% can be fed to cattle or livestock.” In David Holmgren’s book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability, ‘use and value diversity’ is one of the 12 given principles. Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment to evolve. In Nature there are thousands of varieties of herbs, trees, shrubs, insects and birds. To create this diversity in a food system takes skill, care and consideration. It means observing and interacting with Nature, another of the 12 principles. The many varieties of rice in India – maintained through the ancient skill of seed saving – ensure that crops survive unpredictable changes to environmental conditions. Each variety has its own specific qualities and climatic preferences. These are the remaining 10 principles: catch and store energy; obtain a yield; apply self-regulation and accept feedback; use and value renewable resources and services; produce no waste; design from patterns to details; integrate rather than segregate; use slow and small solutions; use edges and value the marginal; and creatively use and respond to change. Employing a slow and steady stepby-step approach has made it possible for Narsanna to engage many people in permaculture practices across Southern India: “To begin with I carried small boxes of seeds in my bag at all times, giving them out to people I met. In this way they could start planting things straight away. Gradually we made contact with more and more people, working locally first, then spreading out to whole communities.” The majority of his work has been carried out with women, as they have the greatest influence over what the family eats and are the driving force behind local food production. Women have been reminded of the benefits of practising traditional farming techniques as well as foraging and seed saving. By recognising women as competent and accomplished farmers, the work of Aranya is promoting gender equality and empowerment. Narsanna suggests that acceptance of permaculture by rural communities has in part resulted from an inherent connection with Nature. Working in cooperation with Nature and each other is the answer. Interspecies interactions are ingrained in rural India Gond Art by Durgabai Issue 275 Hannah Parathian is a research student at Oxford Brookes University specialising in ethno-ecology. James Thorn is deputy manager of the Abbey Physic Community Garden in Faversham, Kent. Resurgence & Ecologist 29

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E T H I C A L L I V I NG P E RMACULTURE I N I ND I A

Food Sovereignty

Hannah Parathian and James Thorn talk to Indian permaculture pioneer Narsanna Koppula about how he is helping to secure food sovereignty for India’s rural populations

Members of the Via Campesina movement coined the phrase ‘food sovereignty’ in 2006, to strengthen people’s rights across the world to have access to land and take control of their own food systems. For large numbers of peasant farmers globally this represents a significant move towards claiming back their culture, independence and livelihood.

replied, ‘Did you see in the forest any trees that have been pruned?’ ‘No, sir,’ I replied. He told me, ‘The trees, they don’t like it. It is like you are cutting your fingers and your hands. You can’t stand properly if you cut your fingers, your arms and your legs. You cannot just do your own thing and the plants are the same. So you should not cut anything. Let them grow naturally. They will take their own shape. They will decide which side to grow, when to stop.”

Narsanna went on to serve 12 years as Director and General Secretary of DDS, teaching communities how to apply permaculture to regenerate arid landscapes.

In the state of Andhra Pradesh, in Southern India, landless tribes and marginalised farmers are being supported by an organisation dedicated to developing sustainable agricultural systems. Aranya (‘Forest’) Agricultural Alternatives was set up in 1999 by Narsanna Koppula, a permaculturist who has been working with rural communities for over 27 years. Through his work, food sovereignty is now replacing local dependency on commercial crop production. Farmers can grow healthier crops, people have access to more food, and communities are better nourished.

A robust permaculture food system consists of a diverse range of perennial crops, with the inclusion of some staple annuals such as wheat and rice. Each of these elements provides specific and multiple functions within the system. A closed, self-sustaining cycle is created, without the need for external inputs.

Working in cooperation with Nature and each

Narsanna emphasises that for the peasant farmers of India the integration of animals also serves an important multifunctional role: “The animals are just like us and the plants. They have their multiple functions. They carry other is the answer

Narsanna’s work is guided by the ethics and principles of permaculture, a holistic approach to designing selfsustaining ecosystems. It provides a framework for communities to create resilient and productive human habitats that work in harmony with Nature. In Narsanna’s own words, “By following the ethics of integrated ecosystems, sustainable agricultural livelihoods can be maintained.”

Narsanna says that throughout his youth he questioned many of the ideals of modern Indian society. In 1985, as a student of philosophy and law, he was fortunate to meet the co-founders of the permaculture movement, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. He admits that at that time he had very little interest in or knowledge of permaculture: “I was simply interested to meet people from different walks of life, different economic backgrounds and different places.”

At the same time, Narsanna met the agroecologist Dr Venkat, who would later become his great friend and mentor. In 1987 he volunteered at the Deccan Development Society (DDS), where Dr Venkat was teaching. They spent many productive mornings drinking tea and sharing ideas, and it was through these conversations and sessions that Narsanna began to cultivate his own understanding of permaculture.

He recalls one memorable occasion: “Dr Venkat left his secateurs on the table. I took them and started pruning all the trees! The next day, when I said, ‘Good morning, sir,’ he out three levels of work and we feed and look after them. They provide money, dung and labour. If I have a goat or sheep I will look more at the excretion than at the meat. I will get meat only once, but throughout 15 years of life a buffalo can provide 15 years of compost! That is more than 10 times the value of the meat. So just like that we will integrate with the other species. In this way we work together. That is how life will go on. It is not possible for these communities to be totally dependent on agriculture.”

Interspecies interactions of this kind are ingrained in rural Indian culture, just as many Indigenous peoples worldwide work with Nature to cultivate reciprocal relationships with other species. The advent of commercial agriculture, however, has made it harder for farmers to maintain an equilibrium, and their traditional farming methods are being lost.

Aranya helps peasant farmers fight the impact of commercial crop production and its current monopoly over the Indian food system. Large corporations encourage farmers to borrow money to pay for commercial seeds, pesticides, fertilisers and machinery. These products come with the promise of greater yields and food security. Yet the reality is that these crops often fail due to their poor adaptation to

28

Resurgence & Ecologist

November/December 2012

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