"Soil is the source of food we eat. Food is the basis of our body. But some call this soil as dirt. If the source is dirt, what of the end product? Only in preserving quality of soil, quality of planet and life will endure." - Sadhguru

Sadhguru initiated the “Thaimannu Kappum Vyavasayam” which was earlier known as Isha Agro Movement in 2008 with the objective to create economic well-being for the farmers. He also emphasised improving soil fertility for the overall well-being of humanity. Since then TKV has been ceaselessly operating to change farmer mindsets, identify and provide economically more beneficial and ecologically holistic farming methods, create model farms and farmers and develop a platform for the farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing across Tamil Nadu and UT of Pondicherry.

The mission of TKV is to create service platforms for training, farm schools, consumer awareness campaigns and agri-marketing services. It also focuses on enhancing farmers’ knowledge about crop techniques and helping them to increase productivity. This is done through one-to-many and one-on-one programs such as training courses, farm schools, on-farm trials, farmer group review meetings, farm visits to individual practising farmers, and consultation through whatsapp and other social media platforms including helplines.

TKV covers a broad area including crop-based training, input preparation, better livestock management, efficient water management and weed and pest management among others. Where appropriate, TKV is planning to help build up local farmers’ groups or clusters so that they can benefit from the offerings. TKV, therefore, provides the valuable elements that farmers need to improve and stabilise their agricultural productivity and stable net incomes through natural farming systems.

Expected impact of the project over long term is as follows:

• Increase in farmer incomes by: Reduction of input costs by employing natural farming techniques, and hence, Reduction in farmers’ debt, and Better price realisations for naturally grown produce
• Improvement in soil organic matter
• Provision of chemical-free and nutrition-rich food to the end-consumers.

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From 2008 to 2020, TKV has been developing optimal farming techniques or crop-wise packages of practices and conducted various training programmes, farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing sessions, farm visits, hand holding as well as visiting model farmers from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

From 2021 to 2025, TKV proposes to train farmers in every taluk across the state in natural farming and tree-based agriculture. It will also facilitate the organisation of these farmers into farmer clusters for managing production and sales by connecting farmers with consumers thereby increasing the net income and offering good quality produce. In addition to this TKV will leverage the government agricultural schemes and organic certification programmes for the farmers.

Project is aligned with the respective UN SDGs and with the Section 135, Schedule VII activities of the Companies Act 2013.

• The only project in India that provides practical trainings conducted on the farmers’ fields with live demonstrations in model farms which build practical understanding and confidence in their trainee farmers. So far, 70 such farms are being used for training.
• Unlike most organizations, we have a team of trained volunteers and experts to closely hand-hold the farmers after training in the most cost effective way possible
• They also focus on addressing the issue of market access and realisation of fair market price for naturally grown produce by facilitating establishment of direct linkages between the producers and consumers wherever possible.