Samantha Bhaware
Centre for Non-Violent Farming
Fundraising for Dhammaloka
Story
Between 1997 and 2005, over 150,000 farmers committed suicide in India (Sainath, 2007a & 2007b). Many of these farmers came from poor rural areas, centred around the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. The farmers are not rich landowners – most are very small-scale farmers, having less than 10 acres of land to support their whole family. The number of suicides in Vidarbha continues to rise year after year.
So why is this happening? The suicides are occurring due to farmers accumulating large, unpayable debts as they switch to intensive chemical farming, often using genetically modified (GM) cash crops (Malone, 2008), such as cotton and soya beans. Farmers are convinced by corporate advertising that promises them a ‘way out’ of poverty, but their investments do not pay off as crops often fail (Hardikar, 2008), commodity prices plummet and input costs increase year after year. Additionally, whilst GM crops have been developed to be pest resistant, the farmers have noticed that new pests emerge every year and they find themselves applying more and more pesticides to control them. These chemicals are also highly hazardous and many farmers are killed by accidental poisoning during application. These farming methods also destroy wildlife. Farmers report their soils ‘dying’ after even short periods of chemical use, as well as knock-on effects on birds and other animals. Whole ecosystems are being dramatically affected.
Traditional non-intensive farming is now a thing of the past in most areas. If these newer methods continue, there may not be a future for farming in some areas, which will create even more drastic poverty than we see today.
What is the Centre for Non-Violent Farming?
The Centre for Non-Violent Farming is a new Buddhist-inspired project being run by Dr Samantha Bhaware, a GFR mitra within the FWBO/TBMSG, her husband Dharmachari Manidhamma, and local farmers. The project is administered by a registered charity. It centres in a small rural village called Mohadi in Yavatmal District of the Vidarbha region, the area worst hit by the suicides. Manidhamma grew up in this village, whilst Samantha is an ecologist and permaculture designer from the UK.
All around Mohadi, farmer suicides continue on a regular basis. Farmers within Mohadi are fearful for their futures. Through the Centre, Samantha and Manidhamma are offering hope to these farmers, many of whom are from a Dalit background, by providing assistance to those wishing to try sustainable farming methods, such as organic farming and permaculture design. In addition to Mohadi, there are at least three other villages nearby that wish to start a similar centre too.
How will it help farmers?
Central to the Centre for Non-Violent Farming's approach is the Buddhist principle of non-violence, both to self and to other living things. Non-Violent Farming centres on sustainable farming practices that enrich the environment, remove farmers and their families from dangerous working conditions and means that farmers no longer get into debt. This provides their families, community and environment with a secure future, free from debt and fear. The Centre will thus demonstrate and teach the principle of non-violence in a very practical manner.
What will your donation do?
Farmers in Mohadi have not asked for money, but education; they want to learn how to help themselves out of this situation. The Centre requires £6,000 to do the following work:
- Restore a building donated by the community to house a sustainable farming library and for training workshops
- Provide training for all Mohadi farmers by local and national experts in sustainable farming methods
- Convert 20 acres of farmland into a demonstration farm for research and dissemination of these methods
- Facilitate regular face-to-face contact with Samantha and Manidhamma for a year, so that they can provide encouragement, support and training to the farmers
- Create a library of books in local languages, collected from across India, about sustainable farming methods and non-violence
- Translate important books from English into local languages if they are not currently available in those languages
- Allow all-expenses-paid field trips to other sustainable farms for Mohadi farmers who would otherwise not be able to afford such trips
- Create Right Livelihood opportunities for farmers and their families
By donating, you will also be kept fully updated as to how the work is progressing and the impacts it is having.
Your donation will make an enormous difference to the people in the community of Mohadi and the surrounding villages. It will help many thousands of people. Even a small donation of £2.50 would buy a book for the library, which could inspire and educate a farmer living in extreme poverty, faced with an uncertain future. The more people the Centre can reach, the better the future will look for all farming families in the area. Please consider helping the Centre for Non-Violent Farming today!
References
Sainath, P. (2007a). 1.5 lakh farm suicides in 1997-2005. India Today: http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/nov/psa-mids1.htm
Sainath, P. (2007b). Farm suicides worse after 2001 — study. The Hindu: http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/13/stories/2007111352250900.htm
Malone, A. (2008). The GM genocide: Thousands of Indian farmers are committing suicide after using genetically modified crops. Mail Online: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html
Hardikar, J. (2008). Vidarbha meltdown: bumper crop losses. India Today: http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/dec/agr-meltdown.htm
So why is this happening? The suicides are occurring due to farmers accumulating large, unpayable debts as they switch to intensive chemical farming, often using genetically modified (GM) cash crops (Malone, 2008), such as cotton and soya beans. Farmers are convinced by corporate advertising that promises them a ‘way out’ of poverty, but their investments do not pay off as crops often fail (Hardikar, 2008), commodity prices plummet and input costs increase year after year. Additionally, whilst GM crops have been developed to be pest resistant, the farmers have noticed that new pests emerge every year and they find themselves applying more and more pesticides to control them. These chemicals are also highly hazardous and many farmers are killed by accidental poisoning during application. These farming methods also destroy wildlife. Farmers report their soils ‘dying’ after even short periods of chemical use, as well as knock-on effects on birds and other animals. Whole ecosystems are being dramatically affected.
Traditional non-intensive farming is now a thing of the past in most areas. If these newer methods continue, there may not be a future for farming in some areas, which will create even more drastic poverty than we see today.
What is the Centre for Non-Violent Farming?
The Centre for Non-Violent Farming is a new Buddhist-inspired project being run by Dr Samantha Bhaware, a GFR mitra within the FWBO/TBMSG, her husband Dharmachari Manidhamma, and local farmers. The project is administered by a registered charity. It centres in a small rural village called Mohadi in Yavatmal District of the Vidarbha region, the area worst hit by the suicides. Manidhamma grew up in this village, whilst Samantha is an ecologist and permaculture designer from the UK.
All around Mohadi, farmer suicides continue on a regular basis. Farmers within Mohadi are fearful for their futures. Through the Centre, Samantha and Manidhamma are offering hope to these farmers, many of whom are from a Dalit background, by providing assistance to those wishing to try sustainable farming methods, such as organic farming and permaculture design. In addition to Mohadi, there are at least three other villages nearby that wish to start a similar centre too.
How will it help farmers?
Central to the Centre for Non-Violent Farming's approach is the Buddhist principle of non-violence, both to self and to other living things. Non-Violent Farming centres on sustainable farming practices that enrich the environment, remove farmers and their families from dangerous working conditions and means that farmers no longer get into debt. This provides their families, community and environment with a secure future, free from debt and fear. The Centre will thus demonstrate and teach the principle of non-violence in a very practical manner.
What will your donation do?
Farmers in Mohadi have not asked for money, but education; they want to learn how to help themselves out of this situation. The Centre requires £6,000 to do the following work:
- Restore a building donated by the community to house a sustainable farming library and for training workshops
- Provide training for all Mohadi farmers by local and national experts in sustainable farming methods
- Convert 20 acres of farmland into a demonstration farm for research and dissemination of these methods
- Facilitate regular face-to-face contact with Samantha and Manidhamma for a year, so that they can provide encouragement, support and training to the farmers
- Create a library of books in local languages, collected from across India, about sustainable farming methods and non-violence
- Translate important books from English into local languages if they are not currently available in those languages
- Allow all-expenses-paid field trips to other sustainable farms for Mohadi farmers who would otherwise not be able to afford such trips
- Create Right Livelihood opportunities for farmers and their families
By donating, you will also be kept fully updated as to how the work is progressing and the impacts it is having.
Your donation will make an enormous difference to the people in the community of Mohadi and the surrounding villages. It will help many thousands of people. Even a small donation of £2.50 would buy a book for the library, which could inspire and educate a farmer living in extreme poverty, faced with an uncertain future. The more people the Centre can reach, the better the future will look for all farming families in the area. Please consider helping the Centre for Non-Violent Farming today!
References
Sainath, P. (2007a). 1.5 lakh farm suicides in 1997-2005. India Today: http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/nov/psa-mids1.htm
Sainath, P. (2007b). Farm suicides worse after 2001 — study. The Hindu: http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/13/stories/2007111352250900.htm
Malone, A. (2008). The GM genocide: Thousands of Indian farmers are committing suicide after using genetically modified crops. Mail Online: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html
Hardikar, J. (2008). Vidarbha meltdown: bumper crop losses. India Today: http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/dec/agr-meltdown.htm