Sustainable Urban Biodynamic Horticulture and Agriculture Movement
A green movement for Chennai
A
community organization led by professionals in agriculture and other areas has
been formed, to take the city’s urban horticulture activities to the next
dimension.
SUBHAM is completely based on
sustainability concepts and therefore requires very little financial investment
to be made by those who get interested in the activity.
Training
of school and college students in eco-friendly practices is one of the major
objectives of the Trust. Programmes are being chalked out in collaboration with
educational authorities for this group.
Some
of the initial activities planned by this newly formed organization are:
v
Encouraging
households to turn their kitchen waste into wealth - in the form of compost.
v
Adopt
vermicomposting – using earthworms to enhance the value of their
compost.
v
Build
roof gardens including vegetable gardens that can generate income
for individuals and residents welfare associations besides acting as
landscaping tools.
v
Highlight
the beneficial impacts of herbs plants and trees to people’s
health and community welfare.
v
Work
to integrate rainwater harvesting and gardening as complementary activities.
All
these programmes of SUBHAM will be carried out using organic gardening
practices with very common inputs and expert advice. Inputs required (see
below) will be supplied to the participants regularly.
MEMBERSHIP: The best practices in organic gardening, training
and resources will be available to residents of the city and suburbs. They will
be invited to become member associates to avail the services. The annual
membership fee is Rs.100 per individual.
Members
will be able to source organic inputs such as vermicompost, vermiwash,
neem cake, biological pest control agents nitrogen fixing bio-inputs besides
seeds, seedlings and saplings at a discount.
TRAINING: SUBHAM is formulating training schemes for member groups such
as Residents’ Welfare Associations in apartment complexes and individual house
owners, on how to make the best use of the sunny skies in Chennai to develop
rooftop or terrestrial garden for ornamental or food purposes.
October 16,2004.
"SUBHAM will actively work with other pioneering NGOs such as the Ecoscience Foundation and the Rain Centre. Our mission is to bring about synergy among the agencies working on sustainable soil, waste and water management in urban areas. Our vision is to create a cleaner and greener urban environment for the generations to come," says Mr. J. Raghavendra Rao, Managing Trustee, SUBHAM.
The people behind SUBHAM:
Mr.J.Raghavendra Rao, eco-horticulturist,
Chennai
Mr.S.A. Venkataraman, Eco-farming specialist
Dr. Sekhar Raghavan, Director, Rain Center
Mr. G. Thiyagarajan, Eco-farming expert
SUBHAM Contact Information:
10, Second Main Road,
Kasturba Nagar, Adyar,
Chennai-600 020