Navdanya , reconnecting farmers, society and the Earth

When I was in India in November , I was lucky enough to happen to be, as they say , in the right place at the right time for the 11/11/11 celebration . In Rishikesh , were I was , they organized a big Kunadlini Festival with many international guests and a fantastic week long program. I. At the festival they served an amazing buffet with a great variety of food , and there I came across this great organization called Navadanya, which was the one supplying the buffet.

Since 1987 , when Navdanya started as a program of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology
and Ecology (RFSTE), founded by Dr. Vandana Shiva, they have been actively involved  to provide direction and support to environmental activism.
The main aim of the Navdanya biodiversity conservation programme is to support local farmers, rescue and conserve crops and plants on way to extinction and make them available through direct marketing. They have their own seed bank and organic farm.

http://navdanya.org/home

This strike me as an amazing project, especially in a Country like India where love for food and Mother Earth is part of the culture and yet there is a great need to safeguard  and nourish them both. 
Furthermore, I acknowledged a reality, which is often left unspoken: in India, as a consequence to rising costs in the agricultural production system (because of the introduction of chemical agriculture  and genetic engineering and chemical irrigation)  matched with the falling prices of agricultural products due to an unjust and unfair trade system; a serious burden and debts have started shadowing the life of the poor Indian farmers. 
Since 1997 , more than 250,000 farmers only in four regions of India , have taken their lives because of this.

Navdanya promotes Fair Trade and knowledge in chemical free and organic agriculture.
It is now present in many different regions of India and hopefully will be saving more farmers' lives but it will also affect ours as nowadays the EU imports a great amount of food from India and we are what we eat.

Here in Montenegro, just before I left for India, I had the pleasure of meeting the person responsible  for the agricultural  development  in the rural regions  of Montenegro.
Great project which is helping farmers and supporting  organic farming.
Find here below the link to their project and website.

http://www.mpr.gov.me/en/organization/agriculture-and-farming/103228/NATIONAL-PROGRAMME-FOR-FOOD-PRODUCTION-AND-RURAL-DEVELOPMENT-2009-2013.html