Recognitions
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Article on Anishas work in Prajavani Newspaper dated 22.10.2025 - translation below
Translated from Kannada to English by Valli on 22.10.2025
In today’s world, where farming has become a business of yield and profit, another organization has gained attention by silently creating awareness about organic farming among local farmers and providing training to school children on how to grow their own food. Anisha started its work in 2006 in the village of Kadabur near Martalli in Hanur Taluk of Chamarajanagar district, providing training on organic farming now for over sixteen years, not only to local farmers but also to farmers from other districts. Along with promoting organic farming, Anisha has also been engaged in various community services. These include helping school dropouts return to school by covering their educational expenses, providing employment opportunities to the underprivileged, and undertaking several other community-oriented initiatives. Native Seed Bank: While running programmes for farmers about organic farming, Anisha has established a seed bank for indigenous seeds at their centre. They currently have over 300 varieties of native seeds in stock. People from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and various parts of Karnataka visit the centre to collect these seeds. During the COVID-19 lockdown Anisha has demonstrated its commitment to the community by distributing 4,500 food kits to the underprivileged in the region. The head of the organisation, Mrs. Valliammal, holds a postgraduate degree in Sociology. She also earned a law degree and worked as an advocate at the City Civil Court in Bengaluru for five years. Her husband, Rajan, is also a law graduate and has been a strong pillar of support in her journey and achievements in organic farming. In 2016, Anisha began a new phase of its work. Every year since then, the organization has been distributing 10 to 12 varieties of native seeds to children, enabling them to grow around 10 to 12 tons of vegetables annually using organic methods. These vegetables have also been included in the mid-day meals at schools. Through this initiative, children have learned the skill of saving seeds from their harvests for the next planting season. Continuously dedicated to this mission, the organisation aims to eventually reach every school in Chamarajanagar district. Quote Rajan P., Anisha: Nowadays, we are excessively using chemical pesticides and herbicides in agriculture. Not aware of how much of these chemicals are being used by whom. These chemicals are not only harmful to pests and weeds but also extremely dangerous to humans. As a result, there is growing evidence of serious negative impacts on health. Therefore, everyone should try to grow at least some of their own food at home or in nearby available spaces. If we fail to do this, we may face serious health issues in the future. Quote Valliamal, Director, Anisha Organic Farming Organisation: Even though we believe we are providing good food to our children, in reality, we are giving them food that is either contaminated with chemicals or lacks proper nutrition. This has been proven through various studies and evidence. Because of consuming such food, both we and our children are falling into the trap of diseases. As a result, our health and quality of life are suffering greatly. There is only one way out of this situation: we must grow our own food, only then we can become healthy and secure a better future for our children. The programme has been helpful in addressing malnutrition and food deficiencies among rural children. It begins at the start of the school year with orientation sessions to help children understand the importance of kitchen gardening, including practical demonstrations. Through visual media, the students learn about the benefits of school gardens and the method of gardening. Depending on the facilities available in each school, various water-saving and low-maintenance gardening techniques are demonstrated. Similarly, children are encouraged to set up and maintain kitchen gardens at their own homes. As a result, children have been able to grow fresh and nutritious vegetables and their interest in agriculture has been growing. This programme, which uses only the native seeds collected and preserved by the Anisha organisation, has helped revive many lost traditional seed varieties and bring them back into regular use. This multi-purpose initiative has provided children with essential nutrition, fresh vegetables for mid-day meals, and a renewed enthusiasm for learning. Moreover, several rare and forgotten crop varieties have been reintroduced into cultivation. After harvesting, children have also learned the skill of saving seeds for the next planting season from their own crops. The eight-member team at Anisha has been working tirelessly, with the goal of reaching every school in Chamarajanagar district. The support from educational officers and Guru Krupa Foundation has been very helpful. On November 14, 2024, a widely read local newspaper commented again favourably on Anisha's KGP Programme
Hanur: At a time when food is produced with the use of chemical fertilizers and pestizides, it is important that students learn that there are other, more natural ways, to produce healthy food. Anisha, an organisation located in Martalli in Hanur Taluk, has been working for the last 8 years to promote organic farming and gardening in the region. Besides, local government schools were chosen to create awareness about agriculture and horticulture and to teach students to create their own kitchengardens on the school premises. Every year ten to fifteen kinds of seed varieties are given to the children, from which they manage to grow ten to twelve tons of vegetables organically every year. It is not ordinary, that children's grown vegetables are used for midday lunch in schools too. And Anisha is helping to save local seeds by teaching the art of collecting seeds from the plants to use them for the next seaon. Anisha hopes to develop nutritional kitchen gardens in all the schools of the district to increase the consumption of healthy vegetables, thereby also addressing malnutrition among children in rural areas. The program begins each year anew with orientation classes at the beginning of the school year year that teach children the importance of horticulture, and they are shown how to grow plants by demonstrating and assisting with all necessary steps. Children are also encouraged to build and maintain a garden at home.
Anisha is busy collecting and searching for native seeds which may otherwise be lost. They only give out seeds to the students collected in the organization So far 4000 students of 57 government schools of Hanur educational sector have been trained in hand gardening. In August, Anisha widened it's scope of work for a two-day event of workshops for 8, 9 and 10-graders with a retired scientist from the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) who was on a private visit to Anisha with his wife, a friend of Vallis working for the Aa Foundation for Community Development in a district of Karnataka. The workshops took place in the Chennalingahalli Government High School and St. Mary's English Medium High School. Two local newspapers found this event worthy enough for an article which we sum up below. Both stressed the importance of practical examples to fire up the will of students to explore new frontiers in learning.
Under the joint auspices of Aa and the foundation, 'Anisha', an organic farming organization of Kadambur, Martalli', a workshop was held for students, teaching them about practical science and mathematics by learning how to make and launch a rocket. On the school premises, students made a rocket out of coloured paper and flew it as per the guidance of scientists. Rockets were launched from water and from air based on Newton's third law, which says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, if object A acts a force upon object B, then object B will exert an opposite yet equal force upon object A. The students were thrilled to see the bottle, which was half filled with water and half filled with air, fly up.
Valli writes on July 13, 2024: An article about Anisha's Kitchen Garden Project was published in today's related article were published in today's Prajavani news paper, Chamarajanagar District edition. It is in regional Kannada language.
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Summary of article:
The educational deparment of Hanur Taluk, where Anisha has identified another 30 schools to be included in its KG programme, has realised that an all-round development of children is only possible when school teaching creates an environment that makes it possible to learn more than the classical subjects.
Anisha, an organisation based in Kadaburu village near Martalli has been selecting 30 new governemment schools every year since 2016 to be included in their programme for Kitchen Gardens for Students. Anisha is conveying the importance of fresh vegetables grown in kitchen gardens that the students develop and create around their homes or on the school premises. 10 to 12 tons of vegetables are the overall annual yield of all schools that have enrolled in the programme so far. It is special that the organic vegetables grown in schools are also used for mid-day hot meals.
Demonstrations and videos as well as istrodutory talks are preceding the practical involvement of the children on the available grounds. Depending on the school, water-saving and low maintenance vegetable crops are suggested and children encouraged to build and maintain kitchen gardens in their homes in the same way, thus benefitting their families. Only the planting seeds collected in Anisha's seedbank are being used for kitchen gardens. It is one of the aims of Anisha to conserve plant varieties that are threatened by extinction because they are considered outdated. After harvesting the vegetables, the children are also taught the art of collecting seeds for sowing in the next season. The staff say that the organization's program is helpful in overcoming malnutrition and lack of vitamins in food affecting rural children. This is endorsed by the parents.
Started in 2006, Anisha organization has been working for two decades in Martalli, Mahadeshwara Betta and surrounding villages to promote an eco-friendly lifestyle and create awareness among the people about organic farming methods. Offering workshops on improved practices on various types of dryland farming for farmers and women farmers Anisha has generated new interest in agriculture. The organisation is also fulilling its social responsibility to re-enroll children who are out of school due to financial problems and other reasons
According to Rajan Palaniyappan of Anisha (featured in the above picture with a variety of pumpkins) in the current year Anisha has introduced more than 1500 students to organic gardening.
When the students start growing the food directly, they get to know the value of food and the hard work of farmers. The field education office in Mahesh said that the work of Anisha which is creating such awareness among the students in the Hanur region is recommendable.
The educational deparment of Hanur Taluk, where Anisha has identified another 30 schools to be included in its KG programme, has realised that an all-round development of children is only possible when school teaching creates an environment that makes it possible to learn more than the classical subjects.
Anisha, an organisation based in Kadaburu village near Martalli has been selecting 30 new governemment schools every year since 2016 to be included in their programme for Kitchen Gardens for Students. Anisha is conveying the importance of fresh vegetables grown in kitchen gardens that the students develop and create around their homes or on the school premises. 10 to 12 tons of vegetables are the overall annual yield of all schools that have enrolled in the programme so far. It is special that the organic vegetables grown in schools are also used for mid-day hot meals.
Demonstrations and videos as well as istrodutory talks are preceding the practical involvement of the children on the available grounds. Depending on the school, water-saving and low maintenance vegetable crops are suggested and children encouraged to build and maintain kitchen gardens in their homes in the same way, thus benefitting their families. Only the planting seeds collected in Anisha's seedbank are being used for kitchen gardens. It is one of the aims of Anisha to conserve plant varieties that are threatened by extinction because they are considered outdated. After harvesting the vegetables, the children are also taught the art of collecting seeds for sowing in the next season. The staff say that the organization's program is helpful in overcoming malnutrition and lack of vitamins in food affecting rural children. This is endorsed by the parents.
Started in 2006, Anisha organization has been working for two decades in Martalli, Mahadeshwara Betta and surrounding villages to promote an eco-friendly lifestyle and create awareness among the people about organic farming methods. Offering workshops on improved practices on various types of dryland farming for farmers and women farmers Anisha has generated new interest in agriculture. The organisation is also fulilling its social responsibility to re-enroll children who are out of school due to financial problems and other reasons
According to Rajan Palaniyappan of Anisha (featured in the above picture with a variety of pumpkins) in the current year Anisha has introduced more than 1500 students to organic gardening.
When the students start growing the food directly, they get to know the value of food and the hard work of farmers. The field education office in Mahesh said that the work of Anisha which is creating such awareness among the students in the Hanur region is recommendable.
Cow Hug Day: The declaration of February 14 as “Cow Hug Day,” had come in a statement Monday from the Animal Welfare Board of India, which called cows the “backbone of Indian culture and rural economy.”
 Rajan with the project cow
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No hugs for this cow
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December 22, 2022
The Indian online journal 30 stades, famous for stories of the areas of culture, art, environment, entrepreneurship, agriculture that may remain unheard, dedicated its editorial to Valli and her achievements. Please go to Karnataka’s MA, LLB woman trains 2,000 farmers in organic farming; helps schools to set up kitchen gardens for mid-day meals go to 30stades.com for the full story.
The Indian online journal 30 stades, famous for stories of the areas of culture, art, environment, entrepreneurship, agriculture that may remain unheard, dedicated its editorial to Valli and her achievements. Please go to Karnataka’s MA, LLB woman trains 2,000 farmers in organic farming; helps schools to set up kitchen gardens for mid-day meals go to 30stades.com for the full story.
August 18, 2022
On THE BETTER INDIA , a website created solely to spread positive news, a long article tells the story of Valli and Rajans mission and achievements under the heading: Couple transform drought-hit district by helping 400 farmers go organic.
The article can be read in full under https://www.thebetterindia.com/295019/karnataka-couple-runs-ngo-anisha-help-farmers-switch-to-organic-farmer-in-drought-prone-district/.
On January 31st, 2022, Valli introduced to us what is known as a "coffee table book" - a book too large to fit into a regular bookshelf and too beautiful to be hidden away. In this case, the Indian Government, resp. a subsection of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the National Gender Resource Centre in Agriculture (NGRCA) in New Delhi, is honouring 75 women from the whole of India in a large folio called "Success Stories of Progressive Women Farmers and Agripreneurs".
In the preface, the Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar writes: "I take this opportunity to congratulate all the women farmers and agripreneurs whose stories have been narrated here. Their pioneering efforts would go a long way in driving their brethren towards sustainable growth".
Valli is Nr. 42 in the book.
It is also worthwile to visit the page of the NGRCA: https://agricoop.nic.in/en/ngrca-0. It offers a variety of services to farmers, including a portal for public grievances and a list of schemes farmers can apply for. It can be considered a great step forward in digitised access to a government institution.
The book can be accessed in full under: Success Stories of Progressive Women Farmers and Agripreneurs.
On THE BETTER INDIA , a website created solely to spread positive news, a long article tells the story of Valli and Rajans mission and achievements under the heading: Couple transform drought-hit district by helping 400 farmers go organic.
The article can be read in full under https://www.thebetterindia.com/295019/karnataka-couple-runs-ngo-anisha-help-farmers-switch-to-organic-farmer-in-drought-prone-district/.
On January 31st, 2022, Valli introduced to us what is known as a "coffee table book" - a book too large to fit into a regular bookshelf and too beautiful to be hidden away. In this case, the Indian Government, resp. a subsection of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the National Gender Resource Centre in Agriculture (NGRCA) in New Delhi, is honouring 75 women from the whole of India in a large folio called "Success Stories of Progressive Women Farmers and Agripreneurs".
In the preface, the Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar writes: "I take this opportunity to congratulate all the women farmers and agripreneurs whose stories have been narrated here. Their pioneering efforts would go a long way in driving their brethren towards sustainable growth".
Valli is Nr. 42 in the book.
It is also worthwile to visit the page of the NGRCA: https://agricoop.nic.in/en/ngrca-0. It offers a variety of services to farmers, including a portal for public grievances and a list of schemes farmers can apply for. It can be considered a great step forward in digitised access to a government institution.
The book can be accessed in full under: Success Stories of Progressive Women Farmers and Agripreneurs.
December 26, 2022
Under the heading Karnataka’s MA, LLB woman trains 2,000 farmers in organic farming; helps schools to set up kitchen gardens for mid-day meals (30stades.com), the online journal 30 Stades, dedicates its cover story to Valli and her success with farmers and students in the area of organic farming and kitchengardens.
30 Stades features the stories that find little space in mainstream media, from art & culture, environment, development issues, farming, social entrepreneurship and other inspiring works.
Under the heading Karnataka’s MA, LLB woman trains 2,000 farmers in organic farming; helps schools to set up kitchen gardens for mid-day meals (30stades.com), the online journal 30 Stades, dedicates its cover story to Valli and her success with farmers and students in the area of organic farming and kitchengardens.
30 Stades features the stories that find little space in mainstream media, from art & culture, environment, development issues, farming, social entrepreneurship and other inspiring works.
On Sunday, January 31st, one of the leading Karnataka newspaper - Prajavani - daily circulation 2 mio - published below article.
The newspaper had identified the individuals and institutions who helped people during covid-19 pandemic and honoured them by awarding them with a certificate. Anisha was one of the institutions identified by Prajavani. This article is in local language. The assistance programme for which Valli was honoured is described in the page "Special Challenges".
The newspaper had identified the individuals and institutions who helped people during covid-19 pandemic and honoured them by awarding them with a certificate. Anisha was one of the institutions identified by Prajavani. This article is in local language. The assistance programme for which Valli was honoured is described in the page "Special Challenges".
On March 8, 2019 (International Women's Day), the Vijayavani Newspaper and Digvijaya TV selected Valli as one of the "women of the year" 2019 for her good results in native seeds conservation. The Digvijaya TV channel was founded in 2017 - it broadcasts in local Kannada language, thereby filling a long-felt gap for information in that language in Karnataka. Same as the newspaper Vijayavani that belongs to the same concern and has in a short time become the most popular newspaper in the country with a daily circulation of 9 mio copies. The picture below right shows Valli (second from left) with the other prize winning women.
Valli with the Chief Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Kumaraswamy, (to her left)
and the Mayor of Bangalore, Ms. Gangambike Mallikarjun (to her right).
and the Mayor of Bangalore, Ms. Gangambike Mallikarjun (to her right).
More rewards in earlier years
Receiving the WWSF 2015 award in a ceremony in India
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Kanada Prabha recognition for Anisha and school kitchen garden 7th December 2016
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On International Women's Day March 8, 2018, an article appears in the local Prajavani Newspaper (Chamarajanagar Edition) on Anisha and Valli
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In 2016 Valli was chosen most successful young agriculturist in a ceremony in the university of Bangalore
In September 2015, Ms. Valliamal was one of the 10 laureates of the WWSF (Women’s World Summit Foundation) for women's creativity in improving rural lives with special focus on food security. In the recognition it says Valli's project, the Anisha Trust, „has demonstrated laudable environmental ethic for its emphasis on local food production and consumption, use and conservation of native seed species, organic farming practices and alternatives to chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Valli has demonstrated courage by leaving behind opportunities and income in Bangalore and instead devoting her energy to the rural poor.“ (see picture above). Original Prize Document .
Laura Verbeek of SD Germany with prize certificate for Anisha from DBU, © DBU_Michael Münch
Another award came in December 2015: Anisha was chosen to be one of the best 20 projects in the segment „agriculture“ in a yearly competition that seeks to promote innovative and exemplary environmental projects. The competition is a joint project of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) and the Council for Sustainable Development of the Federal German Government, two of the largest European foundations centering on environmental technology and research, nature conservation, environmental communication and cultural assets. The General-Secretary of DBU, Dr. Heinrich Bottermann, explained at the award ceremony: "Comprehensive soil conservation can only succeed if all sections of the population are aware of the importance and the value of the soil and the risks posed to it." (See picture above this paragraph).
In 2013, the Taluk Revenue Administration and Education Department recognised Anisha’s work and honoured Anisha for the excellent work on organic agriculture and conservation of native seed. It is a great achievement for Anisha as this honor is recognition of the importance of organic agriculture on the part of the Indian Government.
MAILING ADDRESS: Anisha . Kadabur Village . Odaradotti . Martalli Post . Kollegal Taluk . Pin Code 571444 . Chmarajnagar District . Karnataka State India
E-MAIL: [email protected] . PHONE: (91) 9448872207
E-MAIL: [email protected] . PHONE: (91) 9448872207
@Website, videos and photos by Myra Margolin. Additional design by Osanna Favre and additional photos by Anisha, the Human Force Volunteer Camp, Renee Zimmer
and Aminah Herrman. Updates Renee Zimmer and Valli Krishnaswamy, eMail Renee: [email protected]
and Aminah Herrman. Updates Renee Zimmer and Valli Krishnaswamy, eMail Renee: [email protected]
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