AMRITA BHOOMILush Spring Prize 2018: Influence Award
Karnataka State, SW India
Project started: 2013
Project Summary
Amrita Bhoomi is a centre fortraining peasant farmers inagroecology and zero budget
natural farming (ZBNF) andan established pioneer in the
movement for seed sovereignty
and food sovereignty, basedon agroecological self-reliant
farming and rural enterprises.
Amrita Bhoomi is La Via
Campesina’s agroecology
school in South Asia.

Project Photo / Photos

Campaigning is linked to basic and in-depth agroecology and ZBNF training,delivered at the Amrita Bhoomi training centre and demonstration farms.

Amrita Bhoomi’s Agroecology Education Key Project Information (at 2018):
Lessons
Climate: about 75% of Karnataka is arid to semi-arid (plateau
Amrita Bhoomi demonstrates the significant value of:• A training centre with demonstration farms that delivers
agroecology and ZBNF (zero budget natural farming) training
for peasant farmers, and that also promotes and enables aphilosophy of self-reliance and local self-governance;• Delivering state-level mass training camps in zero budget
natural farming methods (ZBNF), averaging 1000-6000 farmer
participants over 5-7 days including women, men and youth;• Linking agroecology training with seed banking & distribution,
for practical approaches to generating seed sovereignty andfood sovereignty through zero budget natural farming;• Providing long term residential internships for young people
who are keen to learn agroecology and ZBNF methods.

region), also sub-humid to humid tropical in the Western
Ghats and humid tropical monsoon in the coastal plains.
Key words: peasant farmers; youth; women; training centre;
demonstration farms; farmer-to-farmer training; agroecology;
zero budget natural farming (ZBNF).
Primary Beneficiaries: peasant farmers, small farmers, andtheir families and communities; rural youth.
Core Education Activity: agroecology & zero budget natural
farming (ZBNF).
Size: 66 acre training centre and demonstration farms.

Narendra’s Story, a Beneficiary

Narendra was a young graphic designer, from a small
peasant family but forced to shift to an urban job in the city,
The Changes Achieved (High Level
with no farming skills. Fascinated by agriculture, he went to
Amrita Bhoomi as a volunteer intern for a year and learned
Outputs & Outcomes)
how to work the land. Today, he has restored his one acre
• It is estimated that 100,000 peasant farmers now practicefarm on the outskirts of Bangalore. Previously used as azero budget natural farming (ZBNF) in Karnataka state
dumping yard, with glass shards and syringes still dotting
as a result of the efforts of the ZBNF movement, of which
Amrita Bhoomi is a member and the main training centre in the field, Narendra is now using waste water from buildings
around his farm to grow flowers. He’s now also head
Karnataka state.
gardener at an apartment complex,• Many training programmes have been delivered forwhere he grows affordable organic
rural youth, women and men on agroecology and ZBNF
veggies to sell to the residents.
methods, agroforestry, seed saving, solar drying/energy
His father thought he was crazysovereignty, gender and agriculture, and other subjects.
initially - he’s now inspired by his• Over 220 varieties of native seeds have been conservedson, and takes care of his field.
and are being distributed among farmers.
Narendra sees himself as a lifetime• More than 50 long term rural youth interns have lived
volunteer and supporter of Amrita
at Amrita Bhoomi for over six months and learnt how to
Bhoomi and is thrilled he could
practice agroecology
start a new life on the land.

An IPEN Case Study

International Permaculture Education Network (IPEN)
IPEN Case Studies have been enabled by the Lush Spring Prize

Case Study date:
September 2018

Vasantha’s Story – an Amrita Bhoomi Team Member“Seeds are the soul of farming,” says Vasantha, “unless we control our own seeds
we can never be secure about our food security or our incomes. Farmers should... become self-reliant and independent from expensive corporate inputs. Youngpeople specially should focus on organic farming – unlike chemical farming, which
is a road to debt and loans, organic farming is creative ...this is the only way tomake agriculture attractive for the youth and healthy and chemical free for all
consumers, protecting nature and humanity.” Vasantha Kumri R (31) is head of theseed program at Amrita Bhoomi. She hails from a village farmer’s family and has
stayed put, dedicating her life to education and training for rural communities andyouth, strengthening their self reliance via organic farming. At age 20, Vasantha
first learned to work with farmers groups at the community level, as a field worker
carrying out training and education work to deal with multiple problems like foodinsecurity and farmer suicides, and helping set up a community level seed bank.
Vasantha, Director of the Seed
Programme at Amrita Bhoomi

Project
photo

The Project’s story

Amrita Bhoomi was conceived during the ‘seed satyagraha’, the Karnataka
farmers’ movement’s (KRRS) fight for seed sovereignty against multinational
seed companies’ attempts to impose patents on life. The KRRS dream was notto just keep protesting against things but to create the world it wanted to see.
Professor Nanjundaswamy (1936–2004), the leader of KRRS was described as“India’s leading advocate of farmers’ rights”. To put this vision into practice, helaunched the vision of a farmers training center in 2002, named Amrita Bhoomi,
the eternal earth - a space for peasants to build models of autonomy, where theycan explore how to restructure food production based on appropriate technologies
and local exchange networks. As a Public Charitable Trust, Amrita Bhoomi was firstestablished with the support of the Italian farmers organization, Associazione SUM.

Good Practise: What Amrita Bhoomi Has Done
Professor Nanjundaswamy

Amrita Bhoomi’s
Mission and Objectives
Amrita Bhoomi’s mission is tocreate models of rural autonomy
and self-respect.
The centre promotes theprinciples of Swaraj based on foodsovereignty, agroecological selfreliant farming, seed sovereignty,
and rural enterprises. It envisions
a form of development that issocially just, respects Mother
Earth, and creates dignity andequality for all.
‘Swaraj’ generally means selfgovernance or “self-rule” – itlays stress on governance, notby a hierarchical government,
but by self governance throughindividuals and community
building. The focus is on politicaldecentralisation, so Swaraj wasstrongly promoted by Gandhi.

Amrita Bhoomi contributes to these
SDG’s (Sustainable Development
Goals) being achieved.

At the frontlines of the agroecology movement: Amrita Bhoomi has beenpromoting ZBNF as one of its key agroecological models. Its training programmes
and a variety of model plots created on its campus have made it one of the key
spaces for the promotion of ZBNF among its peasant members.
Promoting Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF): KRRS was instrumental in
up-scaling the Zero Budget Natural farming (ZBNF) movement in the state of
Karnataka. One of the most successful agroecology movements globally, ZBNF’s
leaders claim that millions practice ZBNF at the national level in India, while it isestimated at some 100,000 for Karnataka. Around 60 massive state-level ZBNF
training camps have been organised in the last decade, with an average of 10006000 farmer participants over 5-7 days including women, men and youth. Districts
self-organize locally to promote ZBNF at the grassroots level, without any formal
movement organization, paid staff or even a bank account, as it generates a spiritof volunteerism and enthusiasm among its peasant farmer members. ‘Zero Budget’means without using any credit or any net spending on purchased inputs. ‘Natural
farming’ means farming with Nature and without chemicals. ZBNF advocates see it
as a solution to the agrarian crisis and rising trend of farmer suicides in India.
A grassroots approach to seed sovereignty: As part of its “seed satyagraha”(seed sovereignty) struggle that began in the 1992, KRRS and Amrita Bhoomi
have been at the frontlines of the movement for local peasant saved seeds andagainst corporate controlled patented seeds. Today, one major focus is to conserve
drought resistant seed varieties and crops such as millets which are both easierto grow in an increasingly drier, hotter climate, and also have a better nutritional
profile than the more widespread water guzzling green revolution crops like rice.
Bringing fundamental social change through education: Training is afundamental activity for Amrita Bhoomi. There are training programmes for womenand men farmers of all ages, and programmes specifically directed at youth.
Options for rural youth in the countryside are few, and migration is rampant. Amrita
Bhoomi targets young people who don’t have the necessary skills to work on
the land and trains them to create farming models that are economically viable,
agroecological, and which provide a dignified life for their families.

Amrita Bhoomi’s Ways of Achieving
Good Practise: How It Is Done
Agroecology training centre and model farms: The 66
acre Amrita Bhoomi agroecology training centre in the Biligiri
Ranga Hills, is surrounded by three national parks. Along with anumber of model agroecology farms, the centre also houses anindigenous seed & livestock bank, a garden conserving medicinal
varieties that currently face extinction, an auditorium for 250
people, and a training centre with classrooms and dormitories,
with excellent food provided by the centre’s chef. The model
farms are run by peasant youth interns, who each mange themfor a couple of years under guidance from expert farmers, in orderto acquire practical agroecology skills. Amrita Bhoomi currently
has model farms for zero budget natural farming, agroforestry,seed production, rice and millets in drought conditions, oil seeds
production, vegetable plots, as well as medicinal plants.
ZBNF ‘toolkit’ and massive ZBNF training camps: The basic
ZBNF ‘toolkit’ of methods was put together by Mr Subhash
Palekar, an agricultural scientist. Disillusioned by the ill effectsof the green revolution on his own family farm, he drew fromextensive research and observation of ecological processes
and indigenous farming methods during his work in the 1990’s.
Palekar dedicates himself to teaching ZBNF at massive training
camps across the country, and is its principal resource person or
guru, as ZBNF members call him.

Millets: The promotion of the ancient grain millet is a key
campaign, as millets were largely removed from Indian diets andfarms because of the green revolution. Amrita Bhoomi houses alarge collection of millet seeds, which it multiplies for distribution
among farmers, and holds various workshops to train farmers
on millet production - at the end of which farmers are given millet
seeds for planting. The same farmers are invited to attend millet
fairs to sell their produce to urban consumers, linking with urban
retail groups to carry out direct marketing to consumers. A firstmillets fair was held in 2017 for a massive seed exchange invarious districts of Karnataka, working with the state government.
Amrita Bhoomi Training Programs: There are short courses(1-2 days) and in-depth courses over a couple of months. These
are mostly taught in collaboration with allied teachers, trainers,
local NGOs and peasants. Farmer-to-farmer training is a key
method used for some of the agroecology courses, whereexperienced farmers share their knowledge with other farmers,
who then engage in a collective reflection as part of the learning
process. These courses can take place on the Amrita Bhoomi
campus, or also on farmers’ fields. Some of the key training topics
include agroecology practices and theory, alternative economies/
markets, agroforestry, seed saving, value addition, renewableenergy, climate resistant peasant crops like millets, gender andagriculture, and a history of peasant movements among others.

Beyond Technical Education: courses are both technical andphilosophical/ideological. Major issues addressed, especially
Details on core ZBNF methods & practices at:among the youth, include understanding their society, their role
La Via Campesina case study on ZBNF in India:
as farmers, caste, class, gender, religion and power relations.
http://www.fao.org/3/a-bl990e.pdf
They learn practical farming skills, to put them into practiceback home, and to be inspired to slowly make changes to their
Indigenous Seed Bank: To be at the frontlines of biodiversity
conservation and against agribusiness’s plans for domination over realities. Practicing agroecological farming on their land, backed
farmers and nature, Amrita Bhoomi has a fast-growing seed bank up by a more critical understanding of rural reality, helps to put inperspective the importance of their organized efforts.
that includes at least 100 varieties of rice, 26 varieties of Ragi,
14 varieties of other minor millets, and many vegetable varieties
Future areas of interest:- native seeds are reproduced on seed plots for distribution at• Rural Enterprises - a rural enterprise training center is planned
nominal prices among farmers. There is also a garden withfor women, men and young farmers to set up self-help groups,
special local medicinal plants that are endangered and rare.
local cooperatives and collective production models - for peasant
Livestock Bank: A key problem facing India’s livestock sector isa loss of local livestock varieties. The government has promoted
crossbreeding with exotic cow varieties, that are unsuitable tothe hot, dry Indian climate and which require high inputs andaftercare, medication and water. Meanwhile, India’s diverse
local cow breeds (Bos Indicus) are hardier, and require muchless aftercare and if bred selectively, some of these varieties arecapable of producing a high quality and quantity of milk. If farmers
want to buy local varieties (which cost less than the foreign cows),
it’s not easy to find them. So Amrita Bhoomi has a small local“livestock bank” with 14 native cows – where it is breeding andreproducing local cow varieties for distribution among farmers, toconserve the disappearing indigenous livestock varieties.

families to improve processing and marketing, and to add value
to their raw produce. Pilot efforts underway include producing
jaggery (a local type of brown sugar), with many possibilities suchas oils, pickles, ghee, and handloom products among others.
• Green School - primary and high school for rural children
providing free education, with an aim of fighting rampant childlabour in the area. Many impoverished children work in thesilk industry and for food. Amrita Bhoomi hopes to provide
free meals to all such children and involve in them in its
educational projects.

OUTCOMES Achieved

Peasant Youth Internships: rural youth from peasant families
are able to manage a small piece of land for a year or two to learn
agroecological skills and return as trainers to their communities.

• Small farmers create more resilient food growing systems,
are more financially self-reliant and more self-organising tomeet their needs.

“For me being a graphic designer was boring. I sat at a desk
all day long and worked for someone else ... Going to Amrita
Bhoomi and learning the practical skills of farming was one of
my greatest life decisions.” Narendra, Bangalore.

• Peasant farmer suicide rates are greatly reduced.

• Farmers are able to save seed and apply ZBNF methods
effectively, improving their livelihood and their family’s foodsecurity in so doing;Permaculture Principles & From Inspiration to Action The Difference arising
Design in Action
The Amrita Bhoomi focus on ZBNF with from the Lush Spring Prize
Amrita Bhoomi demonstrates the
successful development of ‘relevantto-user’ agroecology education anddemonstration, in the most relevant
physical context, listening andresponding to local needs.
Relative Location: combining workon seed sovereignty and practicalagroecology methods, enables two key
issues to be co-located, with mutual
benefits to peasant farmers by doing so,which enables more dynamic, effective
and creative sharing of best practicethrough farmer to farmer training.
Small change for big effects: byorganising mass training camps, while
this is no small challenge it means thatone single training event can create
massive benefits for many people.
Permaculture Principles in Action: multifunction; multi-supply; relative location;observe & interact.

a practical toolkit, with farmer-to-farmer
training, mass training camps, andthe inclusion of training on philosophy
and ideology creates highly effective
systems of education-for-action tailored
to men, women and youth, which havemultiplied and grown the diversity of
beneficial impacts they produce.
What experience from Amrita Bhoomi
could help your project, community or
network in relation to:a) Linking basic permaculture design
education more directly to practicaltraining in agroecology methods, suchas the ZBNF toolkit?
b) training young people and small
farmers to be teachers, alongside thecreation of demonstration plots that
relate to local and social needs of yourregion?
c) Project development and evolution,and scaling-up practical training invaluable ways at the local level?

A great dream of Amrita Bhoomi and
KRRS that is slowly coming true has
been to have a public policy on Zero
Budget Natural Farming in Karnataka
and across India. The neighbouring
state, Andhra Pradesh, launched apolicy recently to scale up ZBNF among
500,000 farmers. It supports ZBNF asa solution to farmer suicide, and works
through grassroots farmer institutions
and farmer to farmer training.
Amrita Bhoomi and allies in Karnataka
held several meetings with officials inthe state to have a similar initiative in
Karnataka. Great news arrived in June2018 when the Karnataka government
also announced an investment in ZBNF.
The Lush Spring Prize funds alsoarrived in June! So Amrita Bhoomi’s next
steps are to use the funds to join othersin the ZBNF movement to support the
government policy, monitor its impacts
and work to expand the scaling up
through civil society efforts. “The Zero
Budget Natural Farming policy is sucha lovely policy that is based on farmer
initiatives, and when the state puts
its weight behind agroecology then a
lot can be achieved,” explains Chukki
Nanjundaswamy, the Karnataka State
Farmers Movement (KRRS) president
and Amrita Bhoomi’s coordinator.

Legal Status, Structure & Size: Project start date: 2013

Amrita Bhoomi is a registered Trust under the Indian Trusts Act. It has a team of 20 volunteer staff, including a coordination
team, seed team, training team and youth interns.

Funding, Finance, Resources
Amrita Bhoomi was originally launched with the support of the Italian farmers organization, Associazione SUM. It received afurther grant from the Karnataka State government in 2013. Since then, Amrita Bhoomi has received some small donations,the Lush Spring Prize (2018, Influence Award), and it is also earning from production on its farms.

Potential Areas for Collaboration with Project (Local, Regional, National or International)
Project Needs: Food processing and marketing. Amrita Bhoomi is looking to establish various processing units run byenterprises of rural women and youth using local produce. Processing can include production of food, cosmetics, fibre, etc.
Project Offers: Amrita Bhoomi welcomes groups looking to learn Zero Budget Natural Farming & seed saving techniques.

Contact Information
Website: https://amritabhoomi.org

Email: abhoomi.edu@gmail.com

Address: Amrita Bhoomi, Chamarajanagara-BR Hills Rd, Hondarabalu, Karnataka 571342,
India

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