Farmer Relief Project - updates

The first phase of the Amrita Sree Program of the of the Farmer Relief Project of the M.A.Math was implemented on February 5, 2008

Working capital was distributed by the M.A.Math to 101 women self-help groups as part of the Amrita Self-Reliance Employment & Empowerment Program (Amrita SREE) of the M.A.Math.

The capital was distributed by Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy in the presence of Amma, on behalf of the M.A.Math..

Senator Veerendrakumar, distributed the working capital to a self-help group for starting a fashion-designing institution.

In his inaugural address, Oommen Chandy said that during the last three years Kerala has faced two major crises: tsunami and farmers suicide. He said that Amma’s Ashram has come forward to that support the dependents of both sets of victims.

In his address, Veerendrakumar said that Amma was “lifting the 100,000 families to a ‘zone of hope’ by providing them employment opportunities.

Furthermore, Olympic bronze medallist P.T. Usha distributed the annual grant for 18 village libraries and arts and sports clubs.

Read about Farmer Relief Project of the M.A.Math

ABOUT AMRITA SREE:

Amrita SREE (Self-Reliance Education & Employment)

Through Amrita SREE, the Ashram is providing free vocational training to 5,000 different groups of women from impoverished agricultural families. Though many of these women have now incurred their husband's debt due to suicide, the MA math has been supporting them in building their own businesses through vocational training in various fields, including tailoring, making snacks for small-scale industries, electrical repair, and making paper products. After completion of their training, the women are given the necessary start-up capital to begin small, home-based businesses.

The use of pesticides and its effect on the life of farmers:

Currently many non-organic, commercial foods are genetically modified. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) present a profound danger to humans as well as the ecosystem. Many species of animals, such as the monarch butterflies are becoming extinct due to the GMOs. For vegetarians, GMOs pose another problem, as they are frequently spliced from animal DNA. It is hypothesized by many experts that the GMO food will eventually even alter human DNA. As GMOs are a recent creation their long term effects are unknown.

In India and other developing nations, western based GMO / pesticide companies are aggressively promoting extremely heavy use of chemicals for farming. This is leading to serious depletion of soil and contamination of the water. Many insects are developing stronger resistance to pesticides and sometimes even huge amounts of chemical are ineffective. For this reason many farmers have little or no yield, year after year. Having gone deeply in debt to these chemical companies, the farmers begin to feel hopeless. Unfortunately, large numbers of Indian farmers are committing suicide by drinking their pesticides. Amma has expressed concern about this issue, and is working to help the farmers and their families. When we choose organic, non-GMO foods, we can also do our part to end this tragic situation.

Tsunami Relief Efforts

Farmer Relief Project is announced

Farmer Relief Project expands

About Farmer Relief Project