Teaching farming to over 1,000 families in India

We are delighted to share news with you about how our farming programme is actively promoting soil health and winning awards in the process.  

Firstly, we were thrilled when we heard about one of our farmers, Namita, who was awarded a government sponsored prize at her local village fair for her hard work and dedication in preparing organic compost to use on her small plot of land. Using the compost resulted in a significant increase in produce from her field and provided her with more income from her farming enterprise.  When she decided to start bagging up her home-made compost and selling it at the local market, her monthly income grew even more.  She told us that she's spending her new income on her son's education and also investing in tools and materials for her small farming enterprise.  You can see in the photo how proud she was to receive the recognition and certificate and we are equally proud of her too!

Namita first joined our agriculture programme back in 2020 after her husband lost his job through COVID.  She learned all the techniques of sustainable farming from our field team member Gour who is 100% committed to promoting soil health by teaching all his farmers to produce low cost or zero cost bio-fertilsers and pesticides.  It was wonderful to see him awarded for his hard work on World Soil Day last month at a national award ceremony in New Delhi.  Gour had never travelled out of West Bengal before, let alone visit the nation's capital city.  Needless to say, he was overwhelmed to be formally recognised for the job he loves doing and we are proud to have him on our team. 

We look forward to updating you with more good news from the field in 2024.

Best wishes from,

The Team at Shivia

Links:

• 'Small Charity Big Achiever 2022' for our agriculture programme