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ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:30:18 | version 1.43.00
41akzente 1/15 B oxes of vegetables, lettuce and fruit are piled up beside the entrance to the sandy yellow courtyard. It is a bright winter’s day, the green fields and palm trees stand out against the soft blue sky. Helpers are busy loading up a small truck, which will later transport the goods 40 kilometres to Banga- lore. The men are wearing lungis, a type of sa- rong common in India’s warm south. N. R. Shetty is on a visit from the neigh- bouring farm. He points with pride at the stacks of bananas, peppers, tomatoes and cau- liflowers. ‘All of them are organic,’ says Shetty excitedly, who like many Indians abbreviates his first names. His eyes sparkle as he talks en- thusiastically about cow urine, earthworms and the benefits of the Neem tree. He was once an engineer working for the state-owned telephone company. Today the 71-year-old is president of the farmers’ coop- erative Sahaja Samrudha (‘rich nature’), which has been campaigning for more environmen- tally friendly agriculture for ten years. Prosperity boosts demand Shetty runs a small model farm which passes on organic farming techniques to other farm- ers. In the Bangalore region, between 600 and 1,000 farmers have now converted their farms to organic crops. Germany has been support- ing this move. Alongside NABARD, the In- dian development bank, which has made funding available, KfW Development Bank has been providing interim loans and GIZ ad- vises borrowers on behalf of the German Fed- eral Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. GIZ also provides farmers’ co- operatives with expertise on growing and sell- ing organic produce. As in Europe, the market for organic goods is also increasing in India. Although business involving chemical-free produce CAPITAL: New Delhi POPULATION: 1.2 billion1 GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP): USD 1.9 trillion2 ECONOMIC GROWTH: 5 per cent3 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX RANKING: 135 (out of 187) Source: 1 2 3 World Bank 2013 Pakistan Sri Lanka India Nepal China » Know-how for farmers ProjeCt: Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development PARTNER: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, India Overall term: 2007 TO 2015 The project comprises over 190 different measures, which aim to conserve India’s natu- ral resources and simultaneously improve living conditions for the rural poor. GIZ sup- ports various approaches, including new farming methods such as drip irrigation, the use of renewable energy and ecotourism. These measures have so far directly benefited around 300,000 people. The basic idea behind the project is to promote investment in rural areas, through companies, development banks or the farmers themselves. In the state of Karnataka in southern India, GIZ is working with its Indian partners to promote organic farming. The Sustainable Management of Natural Resources project not only seeks new approaches to financing development projects, it also supports the fight against poverty and encourages a more responsible use of natural resources – which is extremely important in a resource-poor country such as India. INDIA Myanmar Bangladesh Bhutan www.giz.de/india Rich pickings: farmers in southern India have switched to organic vegetable farming. This has also brought financial benefits. Source: 123