SRI & Indigenous People

Throughout the Global South the unique cultures and livelihoods of indigenous groups are under serious threat. Food insecurity can lead to migration to cities, usually by men, to seek out paid work. Communities are in general severely impacted by the departure of its members. Often, food insecurity is also accompanied by indebtedness when farmers have been encouraged to buy modern seed varieties and agro-chemicals to boost production. As incomes are reduced as a result of fluctuating commodity prices and poor crop yields, farmers who have invested into inputs with the expectation of higher returns, or those who have taken out credit against future harvests, find themselves caught in a spiral of debt.

The impacts of these factors on rural communities is devastating, but indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable of marginalised communities, and so their very existence is at stake. If indigenous villages and communities are depleted due to migration, a lack of food or a changing climate, they will start to disappear. In many regions, indigenous peoples are the guardians of specific environmental ecologies and seed diversity. These are being threatened by the aggressive and sometimes unlawful incursion of extractive industries and corporate land and resource grabbing. Also significant is the fact that indigenous groups are often keepers of unique languages and culture and centuries-old traditions. Many tribal languages do not even have a written form but preserve within them unique local knowledge. Potential losses across the community are therefore manifold.

All members of the Panga Kondha community in Gacherigaon, Kandhamal district have successfully adopted SRI and produce enough food for the year, usually with a surplus that can go into storage.

Empowerment and Rights

The impact of these successes of SRI on ’empowerment’ cannot be overstated. Addressing a community’s food security issues and divesting it of external inputs and credit increases local autonomy. An autonomous community has greater strength to defend their rights and, in tandem with NGOs is better equipped to take on any corporations that may seek to exploit their vulnerabilities.

SRI has an important part to play in helping to protect indigenous communities in many regions. SRI4Women has worked with indigenous communities in Odisha, India, through NGOs Nirman and CIRTD. We are working to highlight the ways in which SRI can benefit these communities through farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing and awareness raising as well as highlighting how women play a significant role in SRI successes.

These Orang women are at the forefront of a tribal rights organisation fighting for single women's rights and land rights.
Background to Why SRI Matters:
Why SRI Matters | Food Security | Climate Change | Gender Equity | Indigenous People | Biodiversity

More Information
Indigenous and women’s rights can boost climate fight – U.N.
Nilima’s story
Winner of “Green Nobel” says India is plundering not protecting tribal lands
Modi regime’s attempt to crush Niyamgiri movement is a travesty of India’s democracy
The Political Ecology of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 – India
SRI Village: A New Identity of Gacherigaon village in Kandhamal district of Odisha, from Nirman