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All our Eggs in One Basket

February 22, 2012

By Suzanne Rumsey

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Seven Days to Tend the Earth
Lenten Reflections
 by Suzanne Rumsey 

Day One ““ All Our Eggs in One Basket

 “Diversity is part of a sacred trust between people and plants.”

Ensuring guaranteed and diverse seed supplies and crop production has been an important part of the work of a number of PWRDF partners involved in sustainable agriculture.  Among those partners is MONLAR, the Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform in Sri Lanka.  Here is the story of one family who, with support from MONLAR has been able improve both its diet and its income through bio-diverse agricultural practices.

Subhramanyam and his wife Marudai farm a 500 square metre home garden in Maeskiliya, Sri Lanka.  They used to grow vegetables and fruits in the garden using chemical fertilizer and pesticides and were not careful about maintaining variety in their crop selection.  They didn’t think about the nutritional needs of the family as their crops were sold rather than being eaten by the family.  Growing crops this way cost the family 3000-3500 Rupees each four-month growing season, with crop sales totalling only 5000-5500 Rupees.

After receiving training from MONLAR in 2008, Subhramanyam and Marudai now plant 10 to 12 different varieties of vegetables each season and grow a variety of fruits including guava, papaya, banana and jack fruit.  They use compost instead of chemical fertilizer.  MONLAR taught them to prepare fermented juice from fallen leaves and cow dung and use the concoction as a natural pesticide.  The growing costs each season have been reduced to between 500 to 1000 Rupees, which has therefore significantly increased the family’s income.

After working with MONLAR for a year Subhramanyam and Marudai now favour indigenous crops which grow well, conserve biodiversity and need less support.  Each season, they preserve some of their own seeds from the indigenous varieties they plant.

Subhramanyam and Marudai’s family is healthier since they began eating the organic produce of their home garden.  Each day the family eats at least four different vegetables.  Since they stopped using chemical fertilizer, they have also been able to gather more types of leafy vegetables that are growing naturally in their garden and are very nutritious.

To support PWRDF’s work with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, please donate here.  Please make sure you enter “Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (Anglican Church of Canada)” under the “Member Designation” space.  CFGB’s reflection on All Our Eggs in One Basket can be found in the 7 Days to Tend the Earth booklet.  The Biblical passage (1 Cor 15:34-41) can be found here.

“And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or some other grain.  But God gives it a body as God has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.”
1 Corinthians 15:37-38

Farmer in her eco-friendly homestead
A farmer and her child in a MONLAR-supported garden. Photo: Mahjabeen Chowdhury

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