Category Archives: Agriculture

The hands that dehusk the grain

From harvesting to sorting, our crops undergo a lot of change before reaching us as food. A lack of mechanisation at the farm level means much of this work is done manually Farm-to-fork is a marvellous idea.  What’s not to like about cultivating one’s own food and having a stable supply of fresh, healthy and […]

Anāja – News digest for October 2022

ਅਨਾਜ Anāja; Punjabi (Cereal/grain) Photos: Nandhu Kumar/Unsplash We are passing through a period of transition. As the Southwest monsoon takes leave from the Indian subcontinent, the kharif harvest sets in. The crop, especially rice, is associated with abundance. India is estimated to have produced a record 127.93 million tonnes of rice in 2021-22. That it […]

Farmers plant saplings on their land in Yelachatti village. Four farmers are relying on permaculture principles to grow crops, fruits and fodder on their 12-acre plot.

Fallow to fertile land, one farm collective at a time

A slow and gradual transformation is unfolding in Yelachatti.  This quiet village on the fringes of Bandipur National Park in the southern Indian state of Karnataka is where a few farmers are turning their parched and denuded farmlands into verdant fields.  Yet, this is not an ‘…and-they-lived-happily-ever-after’ fairytale. This is an account of marginal farmers, […]