Request for funds to set up the rice milling plant at the Wahamalgollawa- Suwashakthi Organic Farming Community
Suwaskathi
local seed farming is a small organization formed by thirty organic
farmers of the Wahamangollawa community. Wahamangollawa is a rural
village twenty
kilo meters away from the Anuradhapura city and a home to one
thousand families.
Mr. Hemapala is the President of the organization.
Mr.
Hemapala is a native of Wahamangollawa, and a humble organic farmer,
an ardent believer in and proponent of organic, sustainable living,
and a gently fierce defender of his region’s traditional culture.
He encourages
anyone with even a passing interest in living off the grid, growing
their own food, building a home, farming, or an interest in more
general environmental issues to explore his their
village that is typically a refuge for learning about, practicing,
and enjoying wholesome and sustainable living.
Thinking
very seriously about the threat of peak of global warming and the
environmental deterioration and its’ impact on humans’ health,
Wahamangollawa as a community is pioneering alternative lifestyles in
order to minimize their impact on the environment to provide a
solution for environmental, social, and economic instability by
implementing sustainable structures and practices. Organic farming is
the state-of- the- art practice deep seated in the culture of the
Suwashkthi farming community, and has undergone many challenges. The
organic farmers pursuit is to produce organic rice to the market.
Based
on this need they have approached various organizations that could
possibly support them to purchase a rice milling plant that has the
capacity to produce rice from rice grains at their homes.
A
rice milling plant was provided by the North central agriculture
ministry a year ago from now at the request made by the
Wahamangollawa farmers despite the antagonism unveiled by neighboring
farmers’ associations towards the Suwashakthi organization’s
proposal for organic rice production. Mr. Hemapala and his comrades
of the Suwashakthi farming community was compelled to collect
sufficient funds to pay off the initial amount of hundred one
thousand Sri Lankan rupees to purchase the rice milling plant. The
balance money was met by the officials of the North Central
agriculture ministry. Milling is a decisive step in post-production
of rice that removes the husk and the bran layers of the rice grains,
and produces an edible, white rice kernel that is sufficiently milled
and free of impurities. Moreover, the organizations collected 3000
Sri Lankan rupees from each member and utilized the funds to build a
physical space to set up the ricing mill.
Although,
Mr. Hemapala had received technical
support from the villagers for the selection, procurement and
installation of equipment to restore the rice milling plant, he was
unable to attain the exact amount of money required to meet the costs
associated with the process of setting up the rice milling plant.
Predominantly, the ricing milling plant serves two important
decisions for the organization. First, a 10% of the profits exploited
by selling the harvest to the market should be contributed towards
the maintenance of the rice mill. Then the profits generated by
selling the final product- the organic rice will be equally shared
among the members of the organization.
Mr.
Hemapala overwhelmed by the periodic requests made by the government
officials to return back the rice milling plant as a result of his
procrastination to complete the job, is in an absolute finance
crisis. Being persistent to provide the best organic rice to the
community, he had requested to extend the deadline to another month
from now. Mr.
Hemapala had made several attempts to meet the costs associated with
the restoration of the rice milling plant. However, they
are still in need of thousand hundred and thirty three rupees to
complete the entire project within two months. Mr. Hemapala, not
being a stranger to us, approached us for immediate assistance.
VLeapNext as a peace building educational outreach initiative that believes and supports the
notion
“heal
the body, earth and mind” renders it’s support to those who
produce organic rice to address the issue of arsenic in rice. We
believe a collaborative approach with farmers, trade associations,
regulators and academic institutions is the best way to understand
and address the concerns and root causes raised regarding arsenic in
food in achieving exceptional standards of hygiene and nutrition in
our day today meals.
To grow healthy food, an individual must make an effort to start with
good soil. If we use harmful pesticides and chemicals, we will have
soil that cannot thrive on its own. Therefore, organic farming is far
better than chemical soil management.
Our
inspiration to support this community’s effort to
rebuild their community, by producing a healthy meal, allowed us to
solicit support from sources we are familiar of to support his
endeavor.
Farming
is the main source of living in Anuradhapura and it is home to a
modest farming community. The
use of toxic pesticides to manage pest problems that damage crops and
livestock and reduce farm productivity has become a common practice
by the mmodern
farmers
engaged in agricultural work or living in agricultural areas of
Anuradhapura. Therefore, they are exposed to higher levels and
different types of pesticides incurred through mixing and applying
pesticides or working in pesticide-treated fields. Pesticides have
been linked to a wide range of human health hazards, ranging from
short-term impacts such as headaches and nausea to chronic impacts
like cancer. The very recent affliction experienced by the civilians
in Anuradhapura is the deadly chronic kidney disease (CKD). Chronic
kidney disease is taking at least two lives a day in Anuradhapura
killing mainly from poor farming families. Currently 5000 people in
Wahamangollawa have suffered from the disease. Kidney diseases can be
a result of diabetics, or other health complications. As a result of
experiencing these health complications associated with the use of
pesticides in farming, now the farmers are pulling away from such
practices and have transformed themselves gradually to becoming
organic farmers. Mr. Hemapala as an individual who himself had
experienced a painful journey in using pesticides, have disposed and
now strictly adorns to using traditional and safe ways of farming.
The only hope and intention of these farmers is to provide their
families and communities with a healthy meal that will lead to a long
and sustained life.
Mr
Hemapala exclaims that the best way to avoid consuming pesticides
along with your food is to eat organic produce, meat, and dairy
products. Organic food is grown and processed without being treated
with pesticides.Mr.
Hemapala on this regard has contributed immensely by practicing
organic farming and has been successful to introduce 57 varieties of
local and organic seeds. Yet,
the most popular reason identified was drinking of contaminated water
in the region. In order to avoid such circumstances in future,
organic gardening can provide the required support to help people
seek their well-being. As a result of this deadly disease spreading
rapidly across the communities in Anuradhapura, most men in families
have died leaving their families desolate. The mothers are left with
the sole responsibility of feeding for the family and are in a state
of dilemma not knowing which job to take up as they deprive of proper
training and expertise to secure a decent job in the market. This has
put them in a state of flux where they get into prostitution to eke-
out a living and send their children to school. Some children even
have dropped out of schools to support their families. Based on the
need to support the Suwashakthi farming community and the society at
large, we maker this kind appeal to our partners in progress to join
hands with us in our mission to save our mother planet.
You can get connected to us through 94770709570 for further details or to organize a project visit to our local organization that will help you to directly connect with the beneficiary
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