Mysuru: Sixth edition of three-day national level Kisan Swaraj Sammelana will be held at Karnataka State Open University campus in Mysuru on February 27, 28 and 1 in Mysuru, to create public awareness about organic and natural farming.
It is also meant to bring together stakeholders of multiple sectors to build a shared vision to strengthen collective efforts towards food sovereignty, ecological sustainability and dignified livelihoods of Country's farming communities.
The Sammelana will feature exhibitions by natural, organic farmers and farmer collectives selling their chemical-free products; seed diversity festival, food stalls with diverse cuisine of organic foods, cultural events and more.
Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) is organising Sammelana in collaboration with Prasaranga, Karnataka State Open University (KSOU).
Various scientists, researchers, thinkers, grassroots leaders, civil society organisations, consumers and policy analysts from across the five states of South India will converge in sammelana. Also about a thousand delegates from 11 states will participate in it. One can look for discussions in plenaries and parallel sessions featuring agricultural experts, award-winning leading organic/natural farmers and practitioners including Padma Shri award recipient Subhash Sharma; award winning agriculture scientist from Hyderabad, Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu; and genome saviour award winning farmers. Policy-makers and promoters like T Vijay Kumar, Special Chief Secretary (Natural Farming) to the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Deivasenapthy; senior bureaucrat who established the foundation for Dantewada district to become completely organic in Chhattisgarh will participate. They will interact and share their expertise.
One can also look for workshops by sustainable living practitioner and Go-Kripamrita creator Gopalbhai Sutaria of Bansi Gir Gowshala, Gujarat. There will also be workshops and live demonstrations of urban gardening; Patnulu spinning with display of ginning, spinning to weaving by women from Ponduru in AP.
At the Seed Diversity Festival, one can witness more than thousand varieties of traditional seeds of various regions displayed by around 30 seed saver-farmers. Also varieties of roots, tubers, and rare vegetables will be on display. Sammelana will also showcase sustainable and healthy traditions like traditional bullock-driven oil extraction
Cultural events will feature solo singing by Vasu Dixit and Bharatanatyam by Abhivyakti Centre for Arts and Culture respectively, at 8pm on the first two days.