Producer groups

[ Apart from wages Mahadeshwara CSB Therubeedi earned group income around Rs 52,000 - 55,000 ]

This group of 10 members in Therubeedi village of MaralavadiHobli have been running a community seed Bank since a long time, and have formally registered as a producer group on 16-12-2013. The activity started with a budget of Rs, 60000, Rs 15000 coming from members’ contribution and Rs 45000 being a support from GF.

In the first 1 & ½ years, the group had sold seeds worth about Rs 100000. (net profit ????). Now from Mayto Aug 2015, they have collected seeds worth Rs 30000 and have sold Rs 18000 worth seeds. Seeds of several verities of Ragi, millets and vegetables (80 verities) are procured from 40-50 PGS certified farmers trained in seed production.

Mahadeshwara Samudaya Beejabank : From Therubeedi village of Kodihalli division, this 10 member group undertakes seed production. These seeds are of the local and indigenous vegetable and food crop varieties conserved by GREEN Foundation. These seeds are available for market through Janadhanya and are also used for GREEN's internal project needs.

Location: Therubeedi village, Kodihalli division, Kanakapura district, Karnataka

Members: The community seed bank at Therubeedi was built more than a decade ago to further the GREEN Foundation’s goal of achieving food and nutritional security for rural farmers by conserving and sustainably managing agricultural genetic resources. The Mahadeshwara Samdaya Beejabank producer group was formed in (DATE) to continue this work. The women in this producer group are involved in cultivating traditional and rare crop varieties, selecting the seeds that are to be saved, and packaging those seeds for sale to local farmers and through Janadhanya. To date, the Mahadeshwara Samdaya Beejabank producer group has gathered more than 90 local, rare, or traditional varieties of vegetables and millets.In the spirit of in-situ conservation, the producer group also maintains a demo plot with more than 70 local varieties of ragi and millet.

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