Everything started in 2018 when 15 women from the village of Teertha in southern India got together to launch the Bibi Fatima Self-Help Group. They shared a common vision: to improve the livelihoods of peasant families through agroecology. Recognising the potential of millet, the initiators gathered to revive the cultivation of this traditional grain. Millet, once a staple crop, had been gradually replaced by commercial monocultures such as corn and soybean. While they are more profitable, they also lead to soil degradation.
By revitalising millet cultivation, these women are also contributing to dietary diversification and better nutritional health. Anitha Reddy from the local organisation Sahaja Samrudha, a collaborator on the project, explains: “After the corn harvest, farmers usually burn the remaining dry vegetation on the fields, which severely harms the environment. Focusing on millet and legume cultivation is a way to reduce slash-and-burn agriculture and preserve the soil.” Millet is also a highly nutritious grain that is well suited to local climatic conditions and requires little water.
Recipes to win over the community
Thanks to the collaboration with SWISSAID and local organisations, the women’s group was able to raise awareness about millet cultivation in around 30 villages. The shift was not easy: “It was a challenge to convince farmers to switch to traditional seeds and to reduce their corn cultivation,” says Anitha Reddy. To achieve this, the women had to demonstrate the nutritional benefits of millet with the help of simple, healthy recipes for everyday use. She goes on: “We promoted millet porridge and flatbreads everywhere.” The recipes, shared within the community, gradually gained popularity and led to an increase in millet consumption.
Farmers also learned agroecological methods, such as the use of organic fertilisers. Furthermore, the project includes the establishment of community seed banks that preserve more than 250 indigenous varieties of millet, legumes, vegetables, and oilseeds. Thanks to these banks, seeds can be given to the women farmers free of charge. In the following year, however, they return part of their harvest as seeds to maintain the banks’ reserves. This improves food security for farming families, while passing on traditional knowledge and preserving local ecosystems.
A project by women, for women
In India, women face many socio-cultural obstacles. One of these is the practice of “parda” (“veiling”), which restricts their interactions with men and their movements outside the home. The project therefore aims to increase women’s participation in public spaces and make them more independent, as Anitha points out. “This important contribution by the women has strengthened their position and encouraged female agricultural entrepreneurship.”
The Equator Prize recognizes local community projects that aim to reduce poverty through biodiversity conservation. Each winner receives $10,000 and the opportunity to participate in global events such as COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil. The Bibi Fatima group’s initiative is part of SWISSAID’s CROPS4HD project, co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
