Blog
26th July 2024
Today Samanvaya organized an online presentation on the SDG scorecard released by Niti Aayog for all the state of India. The presentation looked at the story of Tamil Nadu and what it entails for Tamil Nadu in terms of areas of concern and areas of accomplishment. The presentation is embedded in this post.
A First-Person Note based on Two Decades of Active Work in this SectorHow many natural farmers are there in Tamil Nadu? This is the most nagging question that often does not have clear answers because nobody measures it. One would assume that Agricultural Department will know this, unfortunately they have been paying lip-service to promotion of Organic Farming in the state for so long, it is a negligible line item in their annual budget almost as an afterthought. From only talking about the awarding of organic farmers (for what? ) in the name of Nammalvar and giving incentives to farmers…
A First-Person Note based on Two Decades of Active Work in this Sector About 10 years ago, I took a group of agricultural academics from Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU), delegated by the then Vice Chancellor to (then) Andhra Pradesh to visit the Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) programme. The visit was facilitated by the Rural Development Department of the Tamil Nadu government, through the newly formed State Rural Livelihood Mission (TNSRLM). The occasion was the opportunity presented by the newly created national programme called Mahila Kisan Sashaktikiran…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning algorithm is increasingly envisaged to play a major role to do various typical human decision making and problem solving methods utilizing vast amounts of human fed data, rapid processing speed, high speed internet and connectivity, devices that can handle such demands, humans that need them and data processing and self-learning machine algorithms.The novelty of machines doing what humans and nature does, has been the pursuit of modern science and technology for well over a century now. The reduction of drudgery and the improvement of…
It was over a month ago that we released the report Future Nutrition - Understanding our toxic transition on the four major transitions that are impacting our food systems today. The debate around ultra processed food since then has increased all around and currently the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) have recommended heavily against the intake of the Ultra Processed Food (UPF) that we had highlighted as one of the biggest menace against nutrition security in the country. Their key recommendations are summarized here. …
Short term Project: Testing and Comparing the Nutritional properties of Traditional varieties of Rice grown in diverse Agro-Ecological zonesDuration: 3 monthsProject Promoters: Samanvaya, Nammalvar Multiversity, Tamil Nadu Iyarkai Vivasayigal Koottamaippu (TNIVK) Background: Traditional rice varieties, also termed as land races are sources of diverse nutritional properties. Two factors have enhanced their need in recent times, viz., the immunity enhancement demand since the pandemic and need to cultivate climate change resilience among the food crops. On both counts there are…