Concept of permaculture farming in India
- Permaculture was originally derived from “Permanent agriculture” and then later changed to mean “Permanent culture“.
- Design of agricultural crop ecosystem in a permanent, regenerative, self-sufficient, and sustainable way.
- Permaculture is a land design and management approach intended to adopt arrangements observed in natural regenerative ecosystems.
- Permaculture is a practice that fulfills their needs for food, energy, shelter, and other necessities and works hand-in-hand with nature.
- Permaculture is helping to tackle recurrent droughts, unexpected floods, and land degradation due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers.
- Permaculture contributes to increasing food production to meet the needs of our growing global population.
Image credit: The Art of Living permaculture (Bangalore ashram)
Brief history of permaculture
- India has a rich history of permaculture. Our ancient text, “Vrikshayurveda“, emphasizes the science of plant life.
- Over the years, the traditional permaculture practices in India were somewhat neglected with the advent of agricultural methods, especially with the emergence of the Green Revolution.
- The concept was first given by Australian biologist Bill Mollison in 1970. He introduced it in India during his visit in 1987.
- Today, Over 3 million people all around the world practice permaculture.
Image credit: Aranya Agricultural Alternatives
Foundational or core ethics of permaculture
- Care of the Earth: Conservation of precious natural resources, protecting diverse ecosystems, and our responsibility to maintain a healthy environment for future generations.
- Soil health: Permaculture soil health management can be achieved by adopting diverse and regenerative practices etc. Practices such as crop rotation, mulching, and inter-cropping improve soil fertility and culture, fostering a balanced, self-sustaining environment.
- Encouraging Biodiversity: Permaculture encourages biodiversity by designing and aiming to create a balanced ecosystem in which wide varieties of plant and animal species coexist harmoniously.
- Care of people: For the long-term success of any permaculture system, having a strong community is important. It is teamwork and a shared commitment to taking care of the land.
- Community Gardens: Creating community gardens unites people for resource-sharing, promoting social interaction and mutual learning.
- Local Food Production: Encouraging local food production cuts down on the environmental impact of industrial agriculture and long-distance shipping.
- Knowledge Sharing: promote workshops and skill-sharing events to empower individuals to take charge of their own food and resources.
- Fair share: recognizing the need to balance consumption and production to avoid resource depletion and exploitation.
- Resource Redistribution: Share excess resources.
- Zero Waste Practices: reduces our environmental impact.
Image credit: Earth4ever
Permaculture Principles
12 Principles of Permaculture Farming
- Observe and interact: Focuses on observing and understanding the natural patterns and elements within an environment before taking action. This includes observation of landscape, climate, flora and fauna, and human interactions that work in harmony with the environment.
- Harness and Save Energy: When you have an excess of resources, it’s wise to store some for future use. Like a collection of rainwater, the construction of farm ponds, and water-soaking pits for summer use.
- Harvest the Rewards: Highlights the utilization of natural resources effectively, maximizing yields and capturing surplus to meet various needs. Encourages the timely and thoughtful collection of crops, water, energy, and other resources, optimizing their use and ensuring a sustainable yield from the land.
- Apply self-regulation and accept feedback: Emphasizes constant evaluation, adaptation, and responsiveness to the dynamic feedback loops within ecosystems, enabling a more harmonious and regenerative interaction with the environment.
- Use and value renewable resources and services: Utilizing solar, wind, or water energy empowers us to fuel our homes, cultivate our food, and regenerate our environments. Rather than depending on limited and environmentally harmful fossil fuels.
- Water Managing: Collecting Rainwater, Creating Farm Ponds, installation of water-soaking pets.
- Solar: Using solar energy efficiently through the installation of solar panels.
- Produce no waste: Food and garden waste goes into nutrient-rich compost, worm composting, mulch, Ayurvedic assessment of soils
- Design from patterns to details: Planning to create a new vegetable garden, to a more sustainable lifestyle Before that clear understanding of the broader vision and goals that guide your efforts.
- Integrate rather than segregate: Think of community gardens as interconnected spaces. By doing so, you can enjoy the advantages of trading extra produce, sharing tools, and acquiring new skills from fellow gardeners. It’s a collective effort that fosters cooperation and mutual growth.
- Use small and slow solutions: Achieving sustainability change comes through taking small, step-by-step actions, and meaningful progress toward a more sustainable future.
- Use and value diversity: Similar to how diverse ecosystems are with various plants and animals, our human society functions best when it includes a wide range of people and perspectives.
- Use edges and value the marginal: Sustainability means maximizing all the resources available to us. Whether it’s about land utilization, workplaces, homes, or our broader society.
- Creatively use and respond to change: Change is a natural part of life. Permaculture is not just about the present; it is about the future. It’s about adapting to shifting seasons, evolving attitudes, and our ever-changing climate.
Image credit: Earth4ever
Components of Permaculture
- Agroforestry: Agro-forestry is a sustainable land management system that increases the use of land and combines the production of crops, fruits, medicinal herbs, annual vegetables, flowers, and forest plants or animals. It is also called a tree-crop planting system.
- Vermicomposting: It is prepared from biodegradable waste into organic manure with the help of earthworms. It helps to get rich growth nutrition for plants.
- Rainwater harvesting: Rainwater harvesting involves the collection and storage of rainwater instead of allowing it to run off. Collection of rainwater can be effectively utilized for various purposes such as agriculture, livestock management etc.
- Natural Building: Using eco-sustainable raw materials like wood, soil, Adobe, Cob, Bamboo, Recycle materials, Masonry, and Straw bales.
- Natural mulching: Natural mulching materials are tree leaves, Hay, straw, weeds, and manure, they help suppress weeds, other important benefits, like soil protection, moisture conservation, maintaining soil health, etc.
- Domesticated animals: Domestic animals in permaculture contribute to the overall sustainability and productivity of the ecosystem. common domestic animals Cow, Chickens, Goats, Sheep, Bees, pigs, Honeybees, fish and give valuable yields such as meat, milk eggs, cloth, skin, and so on.
- No-Till or Minimum-Till Farming: Reducing soil disturbance and preventing soil erosion is a significant concern in agriculture, and also efficient water management is a core principle of permaculture.
- Intercropping and Companion Planting: Permaculture that contributes to the overall sustainability, risk management, productivity, and diversity of a garden or farm.
Permaculture Design in India
- In India, many farmers are facing a challenge with their small and irrigated land. They can’t afford to dig new bore wells to access the water.
- Permaculture is essential for making small-scale farmers stronger, enhancing soil quality, and inspiring individuals to cultivate their own food on small land cultivating perennials, and annual, and seasonal crops.
Also visit: Ashwagandha cultivation project, Importance of agriculture in India, Agriculture export business in India
Permaculture Successful Case Studies in India
There are numerous permaculture case studies in India, Let’s discuss some of them
Case Study I: Aranya Agricultural Alternatives
This permaculture land is located in a dry land area. Mr. Narsanna Koppula and Ms. Padmavathi Koppula have a vision to create a model for small-scale farmers with 1-3 acres of land, showing how they can cultivate a variety of foods for a nutritious diet, including cereals, oil seeds, pulses, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and even a cash crop. Their work also contributes to increasing groundwater resources in the area.
Image credit: Aranya Agricultural Alternatives
Case Study II: Aanandaa Farm, Chandigarh
In 2010, started permaculture farming near Chandigarh, and began our journey. Our farm began as a barren piece of earth, but with dedication, we planted over 5000 trees, constructed water harvesting systems, and nursed the soil back to life. We later named the farm ‘Aanandaa.’ Aanandaa is now managed by a team including Manisha, Agam, Radha, and Ira. Manisha is a certified Permaculture Designer and Teacher.
Case Study III: Swayyam, Open Shell Farm
Swayyam was registered as a non-profit Trust with the Government of India in 2011, The primary objective is to empower individuals and communities, fostering self-reliance, while also contributing to environmental restoration. Swayyam’s journey began with the establishment of the Open Shell Farm in 2014, located near Bandipur Tiger Reserve. As we continue to grow, the Swayyam Community Center represents our expansion to a central hub in Gundlupet Karnataka.
Benefits of permaculture farming:
- Empowering Rural Communities: Educate them with the knowledge to grow their own food, manage resources, and become self-reliant.
- Natural resource management: Management of natural resources, including water, soil, and biodiversity. By using sustainable practices.
- Sustainable livelihoods: creates opportunities for sustainable livelihoods by integrating agriculture, agroforestry, and other practices.
- Savings on Fertilizers: Permaculture systems use farm-generated manure for the soil, reducing the need for expensive chemical fertilizers.
- Reduced Labor Costs: By planting perennials on a significant portion of the farm, permaculture reduces the labor required in farming or land management.
- Enhanced Soil Health: Farm manure and grass used for mulching help maintain soil healthy, fertile soil, which benefits the land’s long-term productivity.
- Access to Organic Food: Permaculture promotes the cultivation of organic, chemical-free food, providing healthier food options.
- Sustainable Food Supply: Permaculture offers a sustainable way to meet the increasing demand for food supply in the global.
- Health Benefits: Growing your own organic food not only helps personal health but also reduces the use of harmful chemicals often used in conventional agriculture.
Permaculture courses in India
- Aranya Permaculture Farm
| Introduction to Permaculture – 2-day residential course | Click Here |
| Permaculture Design Course (PDC) – 13-day residential course (Certificate delivered at successful completion | Click Here |
- The Odd Gumnut Permaculture Farm
| The Odd Gumnut’s Guide To Radical Self-Reliance | Click Here |
- The Art of Living
| Permaculture program (It is a 7 and a half hours program which spans over 3 days): | Click Here |
- Aanandaa Permaculture Project
| Unlock your Permaculture Mindset | Click Here |
| Getting Started with Permaculture | Click Here |
