Navdanya

While on the drive up to town yesterday to watch the final round of the Canadian Open, I listened to an intervew with Dr. Vandana Shiva of Navdanya in India on CBCs The Bottom Line.

She spoke of biodiversity farming, the failure of genetically modified crops to increase productivity and the necessity of seed keeping and nourishing the soil.

Over and over again in her interview, she made the point that we, the earth, and everything that grows in and upon it are so much more than the sum of our parts.

Man always seems to fail when we seek to analyze, separate and then meddle with that one part without considering the ramifications of its place in the whole.

Here are a few facts about Navdanya:

Navdanya is a network of seed keepers and organic producers spread across 16 states in India.

Navdanya has helped set up 54 community seed banks across the country, trained over 500,000 farmers in seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country.

Navdanya has also set up a learning center, Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed) on its biodiversity conservation and organic farm in Doon Valley, Uttranchal, north India.

Navdanya is actively involved in the rejuvenation of indigenous knowledge and culture. It has created awareness on the hazards of genetic engineering, defended people's knowledge from biopiracy and food rights in the face of globalisation and climate change.

Navdanya is a women centred movement for the protection of biological and cultural diversity.

"Industrial agriculture has not produced more food.  It has destroyed diverse sources of food, and it has stolen food from other species to bring larger quantities of specific commodities to the market using huge quantities of fossil fuels and water and toxic chemicals in the process."  Dr. Vandana Shiva