Caritas India and her partners organized a Seed and Food Festival in Sagar on 18 December 2024, celebrating the richness of indigenous local seeds and traditional cuisine. The one-day event featured exhibitions of local seeds, resilient farming system models, traditional dishes, and crops revived by the community.

Addressing the festival, Fr. Anil William Crasta, Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India, urged the farming community to adopt sustainable practices that will heal the ecosystem damaged by chemical farming. “Mother Earth is being suffocated due to the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Over 30 percent of our soil has already degraded to alarming levels. If we do not initiate a movement to restore ecological balance, we risk losing the integrity of our soil, and food insecurity will become widespread,” Fr. Anil said. He added that Caritas India and her partners have been working on measures to restore soil health and secure the livelihoods and food security of farming communities. The Seed and Food Festival was part of the Smallholder Adaptive Farming & Biodiversity Network (SAFBIN) project, being implemented in Sagar and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh with the financial support of Caritas Austria.

Fr. Anil further emphasized the need for nature-centered farming practices, stating that Caritas India strives to empower farmers by giving them control over their agricultural practices, free from market dependence. “There is an urgent need to localize farming systems to help smallholder farmers build resilience in the face of climate change,” he added.

The event was attended by a spectrum of district government officials, academics, agricultural extension workers, elected representatives, and many women farmers. Dr. Diwakar Singh Rajput, Head of the Department and Dean of Studies at Dr. Hari Singh Gaur Central University, addressed the farmers and praised their efforts to return to traditional agricultural methods, which he noted benefit nature, community health, and the local economy. “Most health issues arise from food contamination. A healthy life is only possible when food is grown organically. Farmers are the providers of food, and society’s health depends greatly on how farmers grow food,” Dr. Rajput said. He called for comprehensive reforms in farming systems to ensure sustainability and climate resilience for smallholder farmers.

Several farmers, including women leaders who have embraced sustainable practices, shared their agricultural knowledge during the event. Some of the practices showcased included millet-based food systems, integrated farming systems, integrated pest management, and low-cost soil and water conservation techniques.

The SAFBIN project aims to protect smallholder farming from the unpredictable impacts of nature, ensuring food, nutrition, and livelihood security for farming households by promoting affordable, climate-resilient practices. Consistent with SAFBIN’s belief in the importance of localized solutions for climate resilience, a variety of farming practices have been developed and adopted by farmers.

Fr. Thomas Philip, Director of Manav Vikas Seva Sangh (MVSS), also addressed the event, highlighting the successes of farmer-led research in identifying sustainable solutions to the challenges faced by smallholder farmers. “Agriculture must be practiced in harmony with nature, not in opposition to it. Any harm to nature will have severe economic and health consequences for communities,” Fr. Thomas warned.

BL Malviya, District Director of Agriculture Department, PS Badole District Director of Horticulture Department, Govind Singh Patel Sarpanch of Mathi Panchayat, Moolchand Patel Sarpanch of Pipariya Panchayat, Dr. SK Tiwari and Dr. Mamta Singh of Krishi Vigyan Kendra Sagar, Mathur Chobey of Horticulture Department had participated in the festival.

On the sidelines of the festival, Caritas India organized a two-day review of the SAFBIN project, attended by the project teams from Sagar and Satna. During the review, Caritas India and its partner teams discussed strategies to strengthen food sovereignty measures and enhance farmer-led knowledge building on resilient farming practices.