Seeding a New Knowledge Movement : a film on Non-Pesticidal Management revolution in Andhra Pradesh, by John D'Souza & Shruti Kulkarni. DVD: Eng, PAL Dur. 26' 7".
In the seventies, most Indians were awe-struck with the success of the Green Revolution, that we just did not question the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The film is evidence that we were grossly mistaken.
Farmers in villages of Anantapur and Warangal districts have adopted NPM or Non Pesticidal Management practices and have grown food successfully without using pesticides.
What started as an effort to curb the devastating impacts of the Red Headed Hairy Caterpillar in the early 80s, is now a movement. Farmers have taken the control of their agricultural knowledge based on their traditional wisdom and local, indigenous solutions combined with farmer-friendly modern technologies and scientific intervention.
At the international negotiations, the hitherto polluting developed countries need to take deep, mandatory, emissions reductions. At the same time, at home, the Government of India needs to focus on the development needs of the poor in a low-carbon path through Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Industry, and Sustainable Energy.
(Along with the film, we also have a CD of a wide variety of documents, articles, manuals etc. We also have DVD of the full interviews with each of the protagonists and experts featured in the film. These too are available on request. The aim is to enable social workers and activists to enhance their understanding as well as provide resource material for training. Some of the interviews and literature is in Telugu as well)