In South India, food-related problems like anemia, diabetes and obesitas are all too common. Over 40% of children are anemic. Our diet is sick. Archana was born in a village near Madurai where she learnt how to grow food traditionally. Now she is sharing her skills in Chennai schools. Sivalingam is a farmer committed to make Indian agriculture sustainable. Both of them decided to dedicate their lives to spreading organic farming by launching 2 social enterprises: CARE Society and myHarvest.
Archana is raising awareness in schools about the benefits of growing your own food and healthy diets. Her community members can't afford to buy organic products and urban kids don't learn where their food comes from. Sivalingam saw that even villagers don't eat well, so he helps farmers switch to organic production. CARE Society democratizes the access to seed through a seed bank and is opening up an organic market for the farmers to sell their products at a fair price.
Both projects address root causes of the sick food system: lack of awareness and connection. Through myHarvest Archana promotes school gardens and ecoliteracy classes to consumers. Meanwhile CARE Society launches a Producer Company so farmers can jointly sell their organically grown products to reliable buyers. CARE's help starts with a seed bank, followed by a series of workshops and finally networking with customers. Both urban and rural, both awareness and hands-in-the-dirt action.
Archana and Sivalingam are convinced that organic farming is the key to improving the health of their communities and the environment. With CARE Society's help, more and more farmers will be able to change their production methods, thus making healthy food available to all. Archana through myHarvest will build consumers awareness and change their habits, starting with the youngest. Once you tasted fresh homegrown organic veggies who wants to go back to eating processed junk with pesticides?
