Translating UN SDGs into Janani’s Business Activities
Adya Siddarth & Usha Devi Venkatachalam
UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) have been created for the benefit and betterment of all. This realization is why we are Aligning Janani’s Business Model with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as laid out in Part 1 of this article. However, aligning UN SDG goals with our business model will remain a paper tiger if we do not also translate this into actions on the ground and develop metrics that the company lives by. How do we plan to accomplish that?
Today, there is a growing agrarian and environmental crisis on one hand and an exploding demand for organic products on the other. Janani connects those two seemingly contradictory trends in an offline + online marketplace that:
- Assists small farmers in converting to regenerative agricultural practices, getting organic certified, and finding high-value organic markets for their produce through the Janani Grow mobile app (and)
- Facilitates retailers, specialty manufacturers, and startups to find traceable, certified, and verified organic produce sourced from hundreds of small growers through the Janani Market portal.
Janani strives to create reciprocal incentives for a regenerative ecosystem that rewards virtuous actions, thus slowly bending the ecosystem dynamics towards mutual sustenance, social justice, and environmental sustainability. Our ambition is to merge the business goals and impact metrics in such a way that one cannot be accomplished without the other. Janani Grow’s popularity and adoption will lead to meeting business goals while also fulfilling targets in UN SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Similarly, the more Janani Market expands, the better we are at integrating small farmers into global food value chains. This will meet our revenue targets as well as UN SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).
Janani addresses small farmer livelihoods, farm productivity, ecology restoration and climate crisis using an integrated and whole-systems transformation approach based on regenerative agroecology. This requires shifting the different, yet interconnected, systems around food, agriculture and ecology, first towards sustainability, then to a natural process of regeneration.
One of the challenges in this process is to inspire farmers to shift to regenerative agriculture. We do this by demonstrating the possibilities in action, thus showing positive results of profitability and viability of regenerative practices that could be easily adopted by small farmers. We do this by promoting 6 interconnected approaches for regenerative agriculture in Janani Grow and creating economic incentives for these approaches with Janani Market.
The Super Six of Regenerative Agroecology
1. Soil & Water Rejuvenation
Soil is the starting point for any regenerative practice. Our efforts are directed towards cultivating a healthy soil (Target 15.3 — Restoration of soil) rich in minerals, organic matter and microorganisms, using simple yet sound techniques and tools to create and test soil properties. Our water resource management strategies are strongly linked with those of soil rejuvenation. Based on actual on-ground conditions of water, and learning from permaculture and organic experiments across the country, the techniques that are promoted are less water-intensive and more water-restorative instead (Target 6.6, Target 14.1 and Target 15.1 linked to restoration of water ecosystems). Soil tests after one year on our demo farms showed promising results of healthy soil with increases in organic carbon and other nutrients (Target 2.4 — Improve soil quality and Target 15.3 — Restore degraded land) during the prototype phase.
This has resulted in a bouquet of practices that can be implemented on the farm for soil and water rejuvenation while also creating secondary income streams. One example of such practice is digging trenches at the lower slopes of the farm where water tends to run off and planting lemon grass or other water retaining crops around the trenches. This has multiple environmental benefits — underground water table recharge, preventing soil erosion, and stopping water runoff. When the ecosystem benefits are added to the economic benefit of being able to earn income from a specialty crop such as lemon grass, it creates a winning combination for farmers and environment.
2. Agroforestry
This is a promising land management system which has the potential to solve many of the challenges of climate change as well as improve the overall ecosystem health. Small forest systems were an integral part of rural and agricultural ecosystems since time immemorial, serving vital functions such as providing grazing grounds for livestock, hosting predators of agricultural pests, serving as wind buffers, providing much needed cooling for humans and animals, and more.
By transitioning agriculture from intensive mono cropping to a mixed use approach where crops and the ecosystem are supported by longstanding tree banks, the diversified farms have the ability to withstand climate shocks on one hand and also provide additional livelihood options for small farmers, thereby reducing their vulnerability to climate change.
Adopting an agroforestry technique called the Miyawaki method, our team created a farm forest of native species to increase forest cover as a natural ecosystem for agriculture (Target 15.1 — Restoration of forests) based on principles of sustainable forest management (Target 15.2 — Increase afforestation). It is now time to replicate and scale this across different bio regions in Tamil Nadu.
Janani strives to create reciprocal incentives for a regenerative ecosystem that rewards virtuous actions, thus slowly bending the ecosystem dynamics towards mutual sustenance, social justice, and environmental sustainability. Our ambition is to merge the business goals and impact metrics in such a way that one cannot be accomplished without the other.
3. Closed Loop / Circular
Healthy natural systems are always regenerative closed loop systems. A lifecycle of one is always feeding from and providing food to another, from life to death and regeneration. Closed loop or circular agriculture is based on a principle of farming in harmony with nature. If agriculture is able to mimic nature, it will minimize external inputs and resources needed at the beginning of the cycle while also utilizing the waste generated at the end. Many of the pre-Green Revolution farming practices were tightly interwoven tightly interwoven closed loop cycles. For instance, paddy fields were prepared with green manure found abundantly on bio fences around the fields. In return, the paddy fields provided food for an abundant diversity of small animals and birds that found shelter in these bio fences. The small animals and birds created their own web of pest and predator to maintain the delicate balance of the ecosystem while also protecting the paddy field.
The regeneration techniques we adopted in our demo farms uses a closed loop system which includes recycling of all nutrients and organic matter (OM) back into the same soil where it grows. We made use of biomass and locally-sourced farm manure for soil rejuvenation. Such a strategy not only reduces food loss in production and post-harvest cycles (Target 12.3 — Reduce food loss) but also results in environmentally sound management of waste throughout its life cycle (Target 12.4 — Waste management). In addition, finding, restoring, and renewing the fast disappearing knowledge of traditional agricultural practices that were sensitive to local ecosystems and functioned in harmony with nature is also critical. A farmer-produced knowledge library will be one of the foundational modules in the upcoming release of Janani mobile app. This will help a new generation of farmers recover some of the traditional, circular / closed loop practices.
4. Biodiversity
A vision of a forest is it’s thriving biodiversity. Agricultural biodiversity is the variety and variability of flora, fauna, soil and microorganisms. Improving and increasing biodiversity would help maintain all the natural and essential ecosystem functions and services. These in turn help in the sustainability of agricultural and food systems. Therefore promotion of biodiversity, as a strategy, requires the ability and expansive vision to see beyond croplands/fields and consider the broader agricultural landscape and the interdependent ecosystems present within it.
Through the agroforestry approach, as mentioned above, we used the forest floor method such that the soil, all vegetation (crops, shrubs, trees) and organisms work together to make the ecosystem come alive (Target 2.5 — Maintain genetic diversity, Target 15.5 — Halt loss of biodiversity and Target 15.8 — Prevent invasive alien species). When supporting farmers to apply for organic certification, they need to meet the process requirements of creation of a buffer zone between the conventional farms and organic farms. Using this as an opportunity, we encourage farmers to dig a trench and grow border crops such as lemon grass or bamboo, along with the organic crops. This not only enhances biodiversity but also provides a livelihood means of getting additional income. A bouquet of practices to promote biodiversity co-created by regenerative organic farmers in the Janani Grow mobile app will be complimented by a set of marketplace partners who will help increase farmers’ income in Janani Market traceability portal. This will help farmers, companies, and consumers create a thriving multi-crop and multi-species ecosystem.
5. Local & Seasonal
Locally-grown seasonal produce is an important aspect of moving towards sustainability. Local indicates produce that is grown and consumed within a limited geographical region. Seasonal refers to the specific seasons, or times of the year, when particular foods are at their peak in terms of harvest and nutritive value. Such a strategy includes a plethora of benefits such as less environmental impact from reduced food miles, increased transparency in value chains, improved local economies, fresh food and healthier diets for local populations and reduction in food losses and wastage (Target 12.3 — Reduce food loss in production & supply chains).
Thanks to the increasing homogenization of crops and seasons, our awareness of local and seasonal food is reducing which leads to farmers reducing their cultivation of crops that arenative to that bio region. Add to this government policies that promote a handful of crops, then the ecosystem slowly starts degrading before anyone notices it. What we have realized during the last few years of prototyping is that if we need to change this and bring back local and seasonal foods, we also need to create a different value chain that enables this transition.
Janani Grow mobile app envisions youth in farming communities as the first mile connectors or digital bridges between farmers and the external world (consumers AND manufacturers & processors serving farmers). This will allow Janani’s traceability portal to provide sustainability and regenerative organic data to companies and consumers (Target 12.6, Target 12.7, and Target 12.8 — Procurement practices and reporting on information about sustainable production). At the marketing end, Annalakshmi program recruits and enables women to be the last mile distributors and marketing agents for verified regenerative organic products (Target 5.5 — Women’s full participation in economic life). By fulfilling the first and last mile needs, Janani’s agroecology marketplace will create an alternate distribution and retailing channel that enables a mutually dependent ecosystem.
Our ambition is to merge the business goals and impact metrics in such a way that one cannot be accomplished without the other.
6. Climate Resilience
Climate change is an anthropogenic catastrophe as a result of many years of our extractive relationship with nature. Agriculture is the first sector to bear the brunt of this crisis, with the disaster’s impact falling particularly hard on small farmers and producers. We learn the principles of resilience and regeneration from nature, particularly the soil and its intrinsic properties. Regenerative Agriculture is a powerful tool in the hands of small farmers (Target 1.5 — Build resilience of vulnerable populations), to mitigate the climate crisis (Target 2.4 — Strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change and Target 13.1 — Strengthen resilience to climate hazards and natural disasters) by sequestering carbon into the soil and, thus becoming stewards of the natural resources on the planet.
Small farmers can save the planet from the disasters of climate change, if only we can help them transition to regenerative organic agriculture. The fulfillment of this vital role is only possible only if we can enable them with all the six approaches outlined above.
While analyzing our business model and strategy framework against the SDGs we realize that there is alignment at different levels. It reinforces our endeavors towards creating transformative global impact by building social capital, finding micro solutions for complex global crises such as climate change, and creating local economic wealth in depressed rural economies. The challenges are global in scope but our glocal approach, to address these issues, is to work with individual elements that make this global community and ecosystem — individual farmers, distinctive agroecologies, unique farming communities, soil and water.
Everyone from farmers to manufacturers and consumers are currently caught in a vicious cycle, desperately searching for a sustainable solution. We strongly believe regenerative agroecology can nourish farmers, companies, consumers, & the planet. In the simplest terms, our mission is to bring prosperity to all stakeholders in the food system value chain, especially the two under-represented actors — small farmers and natural resources.
About the Authors:
Adya Siddarth has a background in information technology, urban studies, social & environmental policy, and leadership development. She is a Transformational Leadership Practitioner Coach & Facilitator. She works on solving problems in society using inter-disciplinary approaches to create impact and generate measurable results for the wellbeing of people and the planet.
Usha Devi Venkatachalam is founder & CEO of Krishi Janani. She is a technologist who has implemented software solutions and conducted capacity building trainings in over 20 countries. Her expertise and passion are in architecting sustainable, culture-specific, and locally-appropriate technology solutions in resource constrained environments.
