The road which trails through the sparse landscape that enters Navdanya’s Bija Vidyapeeth, or Earth University, reminds me very much of the roads one would pass through in our very own Northern New York back country. Along with the necessary steeples of development, the cement and brick factories, the local venders selling newspapers and material objects of the like, the hills are largely aligned with small working farms. Before Navdanya purchased their plot of land in the Himalayan foothills, it was deemed infertile due to an unsustainable eucalyptus plantation. The local farmers had little choice as to which crops they grew, how they grew them, and to what extent their seeds may support further life and cultivation. Vandana Shiva, whose efforts help invent the Navdanya community described the farmers’ situation as a paradox, where as “usually, in traditional agriculture in Third World societies, farming is a collective decision” but under pressure from large scale biotechnology and chemical supporters, “the new package converts a farmer from being a member of a community and a producer to being a consumer of purchased inputs like seeds and chemicals.” Like the plot of land that is now revived and flourishing with life, the community surrounding Navdanya has followed suit in similar impressive and pragmatic fashion.
During our second day at Navdanya we travelled through these communities and we could see visible signs of Navdanya’s spill over and prowess. The locals were eager to have us visit their homes and take note of the crops that in essence, reflect their status and quality of life. For these people, life is not about monetary gains; these pursuits are too far from reach. Their purpose is to survive and maintain their land and livelihood, to ensure that their children, and children’s children will be provided the same comforts that come with food and land security. A westerner would be amazed at the degree in which these small farmers can support their families and neighbors with the land they claim. The organic practices that Navdanya teaches these farmers, allows them to produce more nutrition per acre than any industrialized farming techniques, while also enriching their land to ensure productivity in the future.
Along with added nutrition, farmers are also saving money; on average a Monsanto seed would cost an Indian farmer nearly 36 rupees. At Navdanya, the price of ones chosen seeds is merely a percent of the return. For a small farmer, or local resident, organic farming techniques, and in particular Navdanya diverse seed collection, allows the community to escape the binds of Monsanto’s modified organisms that too, bear the name of ‘seed.’ Without these restraints, the community partakes in both work and leisure as they slowly begin to reflect Navdanya’s ethics of seed and food sovereignty accompanied by sustainable agriculture.
Along with the freedom we noticed on the nearby farms, we also visited a local potter whose skill and understanding of his profession equaled that of the farmers. His wheel was crafted from clay to from a round and flat disk roughly five inches thick. We watched over his shoulder as he squatted by the wheel, grabbed a clay covered wooden stick to his right, and immediately spun the wheel into motion as he found the tip of the stick to the groove on the left side of the wheel. His lean muscles functioned like clockwork as the heavy wheel caught speed and coasted along after he had dropped the stick on the brown and wet clay soaked floor. Smoothly in a dire focus, he leant over and grabbed a large slab of clay that he retrieved under a cloth covering to his right. Without hesitation he threw the clay on the wheel, dampened his hands and slightly centered the heap on the wheel, a skill that ultimately defines the overall shape and basin of the vessel or plate. Once prepared properly, he offered all of us a chance to practice on his wheel. Without much practice our untrained hands quickly jeopardized our products, but with this potters guidance, anything could quickly be mended and crafted into art within seconds of his hands touching clay. He was a true patron of the saying, practice makes perfect.
Like the local farmers, whose livelihood is derived from these Himalayan foothills in Northern India, as is the devoted and gifted potter. All of his clay is retrieved from nearby riverbeds, which in the summer time dry to rocky basins, exposing the muddy banks in which bare the potter’s medium. When the farmers began to harvest, the potter begins his dig, and both prepare to sustain their trait and well being into the future. This cycle of regeneration and stewardship with the land is not a product of economic incentives; in fact Navdanya promotes just the opposite. As Vandan Shiva claimed in our interview, “money does not inspire me…seeing life flourish inspires me.”
