Till two years ago, a plot of 38 hectares in Telangana was barren, but soon it will be a venue for an international convention on permaculture
A green oasis emerges as one passes Andole village by the Singur reservoir in Sangareddy district, Telangana. As you keep going via the entrance road of Polam farm, you will see flowers, vegetables and legumes share a common space in a mandala garden. You feel like an explorer when you discover next a nursery and a fruit forest with mangoes, sapodillas and papayas.
Two years ago, this was a barren land, but today the 38 hectares of land is a flourishing farm and also a venue for the 13th International Permaculture Convergence. IPC aims to not only bring Indian alternative agriculture to global limelight, but also provide an impetus to permaculture in India.
What transformed Polam? Supriya and Anil Gaddam wanted to turn their land into a forest and a model permaculture farm. In 2015, when they started, inspiration was not too far way. An hour away from their farm was a twenty-year old forest farm, developed by Narsanna Koppula, a pioneer in permaculture and the co-founder of Aranya Agricultural Alternatives, a non-profit which is hosting the first IPC to be held in India. Narsanna was looking for a site to host the upcoming IPC. Supriya and Anil shared the idea of Polam as the venue and started working towards creating a farm which mimicks ecological patterns and enables humans, plants and animals to interact harmoniously.
The couple followed these methods to transform the barren land.
The venue is being set up to host the demonstration and workshops. Natural building structures and sustainable sanitary systems are being set up at the venue. After the convergence, permaculture practices will be taught and promoted at a training centre at Polam.
As a lead up to the 13th International Permaculture Convergence, Down To Earth presents a series of blogs on permaculture in India. Organised by Aranya Agricultural Alternatives, IPC will be held in November 2017.
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