Welsh audiences were captivated last week by the story of a remarkable group of women who have increased their harvests sixfold in one of the poorest and driest parts of rural India.
The 5,000 women members of the Deccan Development Society (DDS) – a Christian Aid partner organisation in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh - have achieved this success by farming organically, using no chemical fertilisers or pesticides.
‘Seventy seven communities are producing all the food and fodder they need’
They make their land fertile by using manure, compost and crops that can absorb extra nitrogen into the soil from the air. Crop diseases are restricted by growing a good mix of hardy, traditional varieties, while the chemical-free fields are a welcoming environment for frogs, birds and predatory insects that keep pests at bay.
Striking a chord
The women’s story was told in Wales by PV Satheesh, general secretary of DDS, who spent a week travelling around to speak to groups of supporters. The emphasis that DDS places on rediscovering traditional farming methods and building a sense of community seems to have struck a particular chord with Satheesh's Welsh audiences.
'Sadly we seem to have lost touch with these things, but it's so good to hear that they are still important in India,' said Bernard Jubin from Bridgend.
The Rev Jenny Garrard from Caersws, mid-Wales agreed. ‘I have never heard a Christian Aid partner with such a powerful story and such a clear and hopeful message,’ she said.
Communities transformed
Christian Aid has supported DDS for 25 years, helping the organisation to support dynamic women’s committees in 77 villages. Most of the women involved are dalits – the most disadvantaged group in India’s social hierarchy – yet the lives of their communities have been transformed.
When DDS started out its focus was food aid – ensuring that the poorest families were given two meals a day. But its work soon expanded into helping women to grow enough food to feed their families in the long term, as well as programmes to improve education and health care and protect the environment.
‘Through their involvement in these issues the women have been empowered and they have a new-found dignity,’ Satheesh reports.
Against the odds
The women that DDS works with, in the Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, have succeeded at a time when farming in India is in crisis.
‘Government policies have led to the collapse of many small farmers through cash-crop dependency and debts, and tragically we have seen more than 150,000 suicides in the farming community over the last 10 years,’ says Satheesh.
Each DDS farmer has 15 different varieties of seed to plant, and the villages have established their own seed banks to preserve traditional varieties and enable them to supply seeds to others. Many of the communities have carried out surveys to make sure that the needs of even the poorest households are provided for.
Satheesh is delighted with their achievements. ‘Seventy seven communities are producing all the food and fodder they need and providing for the landless, poor and destitute within their communities,’ he enthuses.
Spreading the message
It’s not just Christian Aid supporters in Wales who are hearing this success story. An annual biodiversity festival organised by DDS has enabled the women to share their message about ‘ecological agriculture’ with 300,000 farmers throughout the Andhra Pradesh region.
The women have also established their own community radio station and produced several films, some of which have been screened at the prestigious Mumbai International Film Festival.
For more information on the work of the Deccan Development Society visit the DDS website.
If you would like to know how you can make a difference to poor and marginalised communities like the rural villages of Medak visit our life on the margins pages.