Socio-economic Background
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The Martalli region consists of 20 small villages in the south of the
state of Karnataka, on the border to Tamil Nadu. Martalli has been an agricultural region since it was settled in the 1920s. In the 1960s and 70s, the global Green Revolution hit India and brought with it the aggressive promotion of hybrid and genetically modified seeds, as well as chemical fertilizers and pesticides required to help them grow. During this period and into the 1980s, nearly all of Martalli’s farmers adopted chemical farming practices. While these new practices initially increased the farmers’ yield, over time that yield decreased. The farmers had to use more and more chemicals on their crops in order to break even. Over time, the quality of the soil degraded, crops developed previously unseen diseases, and new health problems began to appear in the community. In order to cover the cost for chemical inputs, many farmers switched some or all of their land from food crops – including lentils, millet, and vegetables – to cash crops such as corn, which is sold as animal feed. This meant that families could no longer live off of the food that they grew and had to supplement their harvest by purchasing food from shops. This, too, added to the financial burden and increasing economic insecurity of Martalli’s small-scale farmers. Anisha works with small-scale farmers (1-2 ha land) and landless farm workers in Martalli to train them in organic methods to restore the health of their soil and increase their food security. Through Anisha’s programs, farmers are reclaiming their land, their native seeds, control over their livelihoods, their right to healthy food and their ability to sustain their families through agriculture. |
Martalli, always an agricultural region, is covered by small farms
A mural on the wall of Anisha's seed bank depicts one farmer in the grip of big agribusiness and another happily self-sufficient farming organically
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Images of Martalli
Cows travel the streets as they go back and forth from the forest to graze
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Women fetch wood from the nearby forest to make fires for cooking.
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Four typical schoolgirls
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The Martalli region consists of several small villages, each of which contains clusters of houses like this one
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Residents of Martalli gather at a local school to watch an Indian Independence Day performance by the students.
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Food (and here tea) are often made over open fires on the ground.
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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]