Combating Climate Change & Empowering Women

One such example is of a collective of 5,000 lower-caste Dalit women from the central state of Andhra Pradesh, who are now offering chemical-free, non-irrigated, certified and organically-grown food. In a region best known for its aridity and less-than-optimal soils, their crop yields are impressive and for these women who originate from 75 villages across the region, switching to organic agriculture was the best logical choice to fight climate change, discrimination, poverty and globalization.

With dire predictions given by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) of the altering rainfall patterns in India due to climate change, agricultural productivity is expected to decline anywhere from 10 to 40 percent, owing to the declining water table and frequent droughts.

In response, the women adopted a method of interspersing their crops so that they do not require extra water or chemicals. They grow as many as 19 indigenous crop varieties per acre on arid and degraded lands that have been fixed by the Deccan Development Society (DDS)"In the climate change framework, this system of dry land agriculture has the resilience to withstand all the fallouts of elevated temperatures", says P.V. Satheesh, director of DDS. 

DDS also helped the women acquire land through the government, while encouraging them to form local self-help groups or ‘Sanghas’. The women have developed their own unique ‘crop financing’ system through a community seed bank, where membership is only a fistful of grain. Those who borrow grains from the bank must pay back, in terms of five times the amount owing, in grain.

The total amount of grain is sifted for good seeds and the rest is either sold in the open market or is given back to members at lower rates, or distributed to poor families. Money earned at the market is deposited into a regular bank and the earned interest helps to finance future loans to members.

This scheme has not only helped the women earn extra income, it has also given them a sense of dignity and pride."I check the earheads of grain for good seed", says 55-year-old Akkama, the seed bank manager in Hulugera village. "It’s a system handed down to me from my ancestors." Over 50 different varieties of seeds - millets, wheat, red gram, linseed and sorghum – are now stored at the bank."Now, when landlords come to me for borrowing seed, I can laugh,” says Narsamma, 55, a dynamic woman who once worked as a labourer, but has now traveled to London, Peru, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, demonstrating their methods to local farmers.

The grains are certified by a third-party- Organic India Council ( of Participatory Guarantee Scheme), and are being sold with overwhelming success – a far cry from the low-paying, menial jobs that many of these women once held.

Source:TreeHugger