Description about the project

THE DISTRESSED FARMER & A LOOMING FOOD CRISIS Agriculture employs 50% of our 1.2 bn people but contributes only 14% to the economy. The sector is in distress with stagnating productivity and several endemic issues. Experts estimate that we need 70% more food in 2050 than we have today. ‘GODS OF FOOD’ WERE DYING Indian agriculture is a victim of its own past success – Farmers are now suffering from the damaging effects of India\'s green revolution, which ushered in the rampant use of pesticides and fertilisers from the 1960s to ensure bumper yields. Over decades, chemicals have taken a toll on the land and yields are plunging, resulting in declining incomes of farmers. They took loans to fund the rising costs of pesticides, fertilizers and genetically modified seeds. Crushed under the vicious debt spiral, they chose suicide as the escape route. Farmer suicides are up by 40% to 8000 in 2015 vs 2014. Our “Annadata” (‘Gods of Food’) were dying. Campaign Objectives: - Educate farmers on modern farm practices - Help them use the right fertilizers for their soil type, and reduce input costs - Enhance productivity, and achieve income security - Get government to draft farmer-friendly polic