Revival of Traditional Bottle Gourd Varieties Through Value | Milaap
Revival of Traditional Bottle Gourd Varieties Through Value Added Art
0%
Be the first one to donate
Need Rs.2,00,000
  • Krishikala

    Created by

    Krishikala
  • G

    This fundraiser will benefit

    G.Sreemathi

    from Mysuru, Karnataka

Krishikala aims at conserving India’s vast array of Bottle Gourd diversity, empowers the rural community and rejuvenates traditional art forms.
Over a decade of working with Sahaja Samrudha, an organization and a people’s movement to preserve India's biodiversity of indigenous crop varieties, led to the discovery of the rich bottle gourd diversity available in India. Today we hold 58 traditional varieties, both wild and edible, in our collection that includes varieties collected from across the globe. Usually most of these traditional varieties fail to move in the market as vegetables because of their large size and because nuclear families prefer small gourds for their consumption. If these astonishing gourds are not in use, they will soon go extinct.

To encourage farmers to grow these rare varieties, the seeds will be distributed freely. While procuring the dried gourds, farmers are paid 3-5 times more compared to the market price. In gratitude of safeguarding these varieties, they will be recognized through the publication of several articles and the best grower will be honored annually to encourage their intended interest. Apart from this a ‘Desi Gourd Growers Group’ will be established and a part of the company’s profit will be used to strengthen it.

Our goal is to enhance rural livelihoods by providing them with the opportunity to produce artwork.  We will provide the community with several training programmes and continuously monitor them to help the rural artisans obtain the skill of producing quality, handmade and ecofriendly products. Krishikala facilitates in building potential in these communities and in creating market opportunities. Eventually market acceptance and large scale production will encourage more farmers to safeguard these varieties and will generate employment locally to produce these art forms.

Krishikala, with the support and guidance of different artists, has developed a wide range of products that can be used in our daily life such as utensils, decorations, lampshades, etc, which have gained momentum in the market. The research in developing new models is ongoing in order to ease the process of making these models and to create new designs to fulfill the consumer’s need and preference. Krishikala is working with rural artisans to rejuvenate traditional art forms such as ‘Tuma art’ and these art forms are presented in our products. We also believe that our products can be used as a substitute for plastic items such as utensils, containers, decors, gifts items, etc.

The funds generated will be utilized immediately to support farmers who are conserving different varieties onfarm and to train the rural artisans, especially women, in remote villages.

Read More

Know someone in need of funds? Refer to us
support