Fundraiser Ended! This fundraiser ended on August 16, 2015
Combating Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change
Fruit trees are an important natural and economic tool available to alleviate hunger and poverty, and combat climate change. Sustainable Greening Initiative is crowd-funding Rs 350,000 (approx US$5,500) to plant and nurture 3,000 fruit trees for 500 marginal farmers, which would provide food and income, and combat climate change in coastal India.
Who Are We?
Sustainable Greening Initiative (SGI) is an India-based social enterprise, on the forefront of the battle against climate change, hunger and poverty. In the past two-and-a-half years, we have planted over 25,000 trees in 23 locations across India. Many of these trees now bear fruit.
The Challenge?
Climate change is the biggest challenge of our times. In addition to this, the global south, including India, has its fair share of poverty and hunger due to historical and geopolitical reasons.
Sea level rise caused by climate change has forced thousands out of the Sunderbans, the mangrove forests in coastal India. A recent World Bank report states that Salinity Intrusion in a changing climate scenario will hit the Sunderbans and coastal Bangladesh hard. Trees are a very strong line of defense against sea level rise and cyclones. Fruit trees have the added advantage of providing nourishment and sustainable income.
Our Solution
Chandanpiri is a small village of sub-marginal farmers in Namkhana Block of South 24 Parganas in Sunderbans, West Bengal. The cyclone Aila in May 2009, rendered many areas of this block saline. Thus, traditional paddy cultivation and fish farming were no longer possible. In partnership with the West Bengal Self Help Promotion Group, SGI will help 500 marginal farmers plant 3,000 fruit trees in their homesteads.
Each homestead will get five or six fruit tree saplings from amongst mango, sapota, lemon, bananas and guava. SGI will help plant, nurture and monitor, to ensure over 80% survival of the saplings into mature trees and into fruiting. See map https://goo.gl/maps/3wYHo
The impact on the income of the households from the trees will be measurable from year three, that is, 2018, and is estimated to increase the average household income by up to US$100 or INR 5,500 per annum, which will be inflation-adjusted and continue for the next 40-50 years. This is besides the income or nutritional benefits of vegetables that we will help them to inter-crop, which, at a modest estimate, should yield another INR 2,000 or US$35 per annum..
How Your Contribution Works
Your contribution to SGI’s campaign will help 500 marginal farmers plant 3,000 fruit trees in their homesteads. Below is the budget breakdown of how your contribution will be utilized.
|
Details |
Costs 3000 fruit tree saplings |
|
|
Planting Material |
Cost of Saplings, Transportation |
105,000 |
|
Planting Costs |
Pit digging, Initial labour costs |
15,000 |
|
Pre planting Manure |
Cow dung, Compost, FYM, Calcium |
12,000 |
|
Pre planting pest control |
Pesticide Neem Cake, Mustard Cake, Tobacco waste |
12,000 |
|
Replanting Costs |
20% |
15,000 |
|
Nurturing 12 months |
Watering, Manuring, De-weeding, pest control, pruning |
90,000 |
|
Vegetable Cultivation and Farming |
Seeds, Manure, Pest Control, Pre & Post harvesting aids |
50,000 |
|
Admin Costs |
Salaries, Travel costs, Overheads, @18% |
52,000 |
|
Total |
351,000 |
Our Token of Appreciation
Contribute INR 251/-(USD 4.00) and we will plant ONE FRUIT TREE on your behalf and nurture it for a year.
Contribute INR 501/-(USD 8.00) and we will plant TWO FRUIT TREES on your behalf and nurture it for a year.
Contribute INR 1,001/- (USD 15.00) and we will plant FIVE FRUIT TREES for you at Chandanpiri and nurture it for a year.
Contribute ONLY INR 4,001/- (USD 65/-) and we will plant TWENTY ONE FRUIT TRES for you at Chandanpiri and nurture it for a year.
All contributors will be given a tree planting certificate with their names embedded on the certificate.
About Us
Sustainable Green Initiative, plants fruit trees in communities such as old-age homes, orphanages and homesteads of marginal farmers. After planting, SGI assists the communities to nurture the fruit trees for up to two years, thereby ensuring high survival rates and abundant fruiting. Alongside fruit tree planting, we assist the community in developing their own vegetable gardens.
These two self-complimenting activities lead to a constant source of fruits and vegetables to the community, thereby helping alleviate hunger, poverty and also fight global warming and climate change.
Since 2012, we have planted and nurtured over 25,000 trees in 23 communities across India in Suneel, Uttarakhand; Delhi NCR; Karnataka, and West Bengal. Many of these communities are now abundant with fresh fruit and vegetables. Read Kolkata’s Mulvany House old-age case study, by clicking here.
Note: One hundred fruit trees can help ensure all income and nourishment requirements of a family of four, which includes the cost of children’s education. More importantly, it helps prevent rural migration.
TEAM MEMBERS
Connecting dots... the billion who cause climate change and the billion who sleep hungry!
Raj has been in the forefront of technology start-ups since 1999, after pioneering the yellow pages in India, he is an entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in building successful businesses.
At SGI, the social-enterprise start-up, the role he plays are very similar to what he did when he was 27, except that this path is much more socially and emotionally full-filling and satisfying.
Victor is passionate about bringing positive ideas to fruition based on the values of cooperation. He is Business Development and Account Manager at Unite. In this role, Victor builds and manages external relationships, does project management, and works on digital strategy, and social media.
For more:
Sustainable Green Initiative
Facebook Linkedin Twitter
Read a story of a tree: sgi.uberflip.com/t/41485
Press: Resilient Cities Mint Giving Issue
Youtube: Fruit Tree Planting at Mulvany House, an old age home in Kolkata, India
Climate Leader trained by Nobel Laureate Al Gore.
Winner: Certificate of Excellence for the 45 Cities ShaharGREEN Karo - It's Our Turn to Lead campaign.
Chandanpiri, Namkhana, Sunderbans, West Bengal.
Where the river meets the sea.
One hundred and fifty kms south of Kolkata in the Sunderbans Delta.
See map https://goo.gl/maps/3wYHo
3000 fruit trees will be planted in homesteads of around 500 marginal farmers with the assistance of the West Bengal Self Help Promotion Group's Namkhana partner NGO.
Each homestead will plant and nurture five or six fruit tree saplings from amongst Mango, Sapota, Lemon, Bananas and Guava. We at Sustainable Green Initiative will help nurture and monitor to ensure over 80% survival of the saplings into mature trees and into fruiting.
The impact on the income of the households from the trees will be measurable from year 3, ie 2018 and is estimated to increase the average household income by up to US$ 100/- or INR 5500/- per annum and will continue for the next 40-50 years. This is besides the income or nutritional benefits of vegetables that we will help them to inter-crop.
Take part in this growth story.
Impact people lives. Plant fruit trees, change peoples lives.
SUSTAINABLE GREEN INITIATIVE:
Creating Orchards from Barren Lands: Mulvany House, an old age home in Kolkata, India. A Case Study.
Mulvany House was a barren land in July 2013, with a few really old trees.
Mulvany House, a 116-year old-age home at 11, Dr. Kartick Bose Road in Kolkata, is home to 23 elderly women and men at any given point in time. Run by the Church of North India under the Diocese of Calcutta, the home was renovated by Mr Ernst Schwering, Vice - Consul, Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is usually strapped for funds and relies heavily on donations from individuals and charitable institutes. There have been times when the home has looked desperately for funds for its dry rations, even.
In early 2013, Sustainable Green Initiative (SGI) first came to know about the home as a possible place to plant fruit trees on community lands. Create an orchard in a barren land. The social enterprise works towards addressing climate change and reducing carbon footprint, while also looking at providing nourishment and subsidiary income to communities.
After 18 months of planting and nurturing 300 fruit trees in the home campus, results in the form of early fruits have started showing up. The home's residents are now enjoying wholesome nourishment from fruits such as bananas and papaya. And that too free of cost.
In less than two years, this old age home had bananas, lime, papaya, guava, ber, sapota apart from an abundance of vegetable for their own consumption.
Looms of bananas.
Intercropped vegetables: Okra, Tomatoes, Raddish, Carrots, Spinach, Pumpkins and even a grape vine.
Early pomegranates, guavas, lemon, indian jujubes - ber and sapotas have started fruiting and have announced their plans to provide wholesome nourishment to the residents for the next 50-60 years. The administering body is even considering an auction or frequent markets for their patrons who can buy these organic fruits. On the intangible side, the joy displayed by the elderly residents is indescribable as they keep count of banana looms that are ripening, discuss how they wished they had teeth for the guavas fruiting, get agitated about a missing half-ripe pomegranate fruit from a tree, and take pride in what they call their “orchard”. SGI's work with intercropping the early-growth fruit trees with vegetables in the home’s campus now has vegetables such as spinach, radish, beetroots, flat beans, okra, brinjals, green pepper and coriander. The 23 residents of the home have been enjoying fresh, free, and organic vegetables that are grown in their own vegetable patch since August 2014.
Cooking your home-grown vegetables not only means saving a significant sum of money every month for the fund-strapped home, the fact that the vegetables are organically grown and taken fresh out of the vegetable patch are advantages that can’t be surpassed.
Our prize a green abundant mother earth.
METHODOLOGY SGI zeroed in on the old age home as a place that needed help. Located in one of the most congested and polluted areas of the city, the trees planted here could help combat some of the pollution and benefit the residents with their fruits, After the enthusiastic go-ahead from the home authorities, SGI surveyed the land and found it to be uneven with places that could have water logging during monsoons. The land was made as symmetrical as possible and wild plants and bushes composted. The soil was treated with organic farmyard manure and with fermented de-oiled neem and mustard slurry cake. Note: Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not used in SGI's planting activities since the objective is not to produce merely in large quantities for commercial purposes. The saplings were sourced from an extremely reliable nursery in West Bengal, which is also the largest in the state. To ensure high survival rates and the quality of saplings, SGI members routinely oversee and handpick the saplings for the projects and travel extensively to the nurseries.
After preparing the land for the planting and hand-picking the saplings came the next challenge. Funds for planting and then nurturing the saplings for the two years they will take for starting to fruit. As a strategy, SGI plants banana, papaya and other fruit trees. Thus, while trees would bear fruit mostly from the third year onwards, the community starts to benefit much earlier with banana and papaya, which start to bear fruit within nine to 12 months, and between 14-18 months, respectively.
BREAKUP OF FRUIT TREES PLANTED ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Banana 75
Papaya 50
Sapota 30
Guava 20
Lemon (3 varieties) 35
Mango 15
Pomegranate 05
Litchi 05
Wood apple (Bael) 10
Amra 20
Star fruit 10
Custard Apple 10
Indian Jujube - Ber 10
Gooseberry 05
TOTAL 300
OPERATING PROCESS It was after the excitement of the planting that SGI’s hard work began in the earnest. Mulching, fertilising, pruning, de-weeding was carried out regularly by experienced hands. There were no unpleasant surprises in the maintenance process due to taking care of all aspects of planting and nurturing of the saplings.
ADDED ADVANTAGES FOR THE HOME SGI’s intervention goes beyond planting and maintaining tree saplings and vegetables. As the word of SGI’s planting activities spread through social media, newspapers and word-of-mouth, the home has seen a number of individuals and organisations coming forward to help.
CONCLUSION Planting and nurturing fruit trees can be a wonderful way to not only combat global warming and climate change, at the same time, it can be a sustainable way to help fight hunger and poverty .
SGI: ABOUT US: Our focus:
Planting trees is a well accepted and respected method of combating Green House Gases and Carbon Dioxide emissions that are responsible for global warming and climate change. We at SGI have taken this methodology a step further by implementing tree planting strategies, which also help in alleviating hunger, nutrition and poverty.
We work with the objective of connecting the two sets of dots... the billion who cause climate change and the billion and more who sleep hungry.
The Manging Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation celebrates World Environment Day 2014 by planting a sapling.
Our methodology: How we plant and nurture trees to mitigate climate change and, where feasible, hunger and poverty:
Trees aren’t just about clean air, although it is a vital function they perform for our existence. There is absolutely no other way to generate life-giving oxygen in the air other than trees and green cover. Trees perform many innumerable good deeds for us. They give and give and ask for nothing in return, except that they be allowed to co-exist with our air-conditioners, smoke-belching trucks and fossil-fuel burning cars and manufacturing plants.
Lions Clubs International - International 2nd Vice President, Dr. Jitsuhiro Yamada, planting trees as part of a 1000-tree planting festival at Bidhan Sishu Udyan, Ultadanga,in the presence of the Lions from around Kolkata.
According to scientific studies data, the simplest way to combat climate change and alarming levels of pollution is to plant trees. As is common knowledge, carbon dioxide is one of the main causes of global warming. CO2 and other greenhouse gases blanket the earth’s atmosphere and trap heat. This leads to warming of the earth’s atmosphere since the trapped heat is prevented from escaping. This can be addresses by trees, which breathe in CO2 and breathe out oxygen.
What many don’t know, however, is that a mature tree sequesters up to a tonne of carbon in its lifetime! It also gives out enough oxygen needed by two human beings in their lifetime. It is also true that planting a tree can be one of the most satisfying activities of our lives. Nurturing a tree we have planted and watching it grow and bear fruit is an extremely rewarding experience.
Apart from the obvious, trees have many other benefits. For instance, trees cool the streets and city and conserve energy; they save water; help prevent water pollution and prevent soil erosion; shield children from ultra-violet rays by 50 per cent; provide food; trees heal and reduce violence; mark the seasons; create economic opportunities; trees are teachers and playmates; bring diverse groups of people together; provide a canopy and habitat for wildlife; block things such as an ungainly wall or too much traffic; provide wood, increase property values; and increase business traffic.
Sustainable Green Initiative has a multi-pronged planting methodology that involves:
In urban and semi-urban areas, SGI identifies communities and beneficiaries such as old-age homes, orphanages, small trusts running schools with or without government aid and such others who have access to land where fruit tree planting and nurturing by SGI can lead to a sustainable income source.
In rural areas, SGI partners with NGOs and SHGs at village and block levels to identify farmers and communities who have fallow land or have access/ ownership of community/ forest lands where agro-forestry and fruit, fodder, medicinal or timber tree planting can be undertaken.
On identifying the above, SGI ensures complete financial and economic support to our partners. This covers the entire gamut of activity -- from remunerating SHGs, providing the right saplings to the farmers or community SHG, orphanage or old-age home and support for nurturing the sapling to a tree.
Using geo-tagging technologies, SGI provides enterprise sponsors an easy-to-use validation and audit authentication tool for the trees we plant on their behalf. This tool gives sponsors accurate numbers of planting and survival rates, at all times.
Since 2012, Sustainable Green Initiative has planted over 25,000 fruit and and timber trees at 23 project sites across India:
Suneel, Dist Chamoli, Uttarakhand
Bidhan Sishu Udyan, Kolkata
Mulvany House, Kolkata
Tolly Homes, Kolkata
Pratt Memorial. Kolkata
Sports Authority Eastern Complex, Kolkata
Rabindra Sarobar, Kolkata
SPCI Girls Orphanage, Kolkata
DCW, Sarsuna, Kolkata
Auxilium, New Town, Kolkata
Ashabari, South 24 Paraganas
KolaGachiya, South 24 Paraganas, Kolkata
Ephiphany Church, Kolkata
Little Sisters of the Poor Old Age home. Kolkata
Anandashram, Gurgaon
St Michaels Orphanage,Gurgaon
BC Farms. Gurgaon
Jamuna Banks, Shastri Park, Delhi
Metro Bhavan, New Delhi
Auxilium. Najafgarh, Delhi
Ish Vatika, Najafgarh Delhi
Asha Bhawan, Bengaluru
Sumanhalli Leprosy Centre, Bengaluru
These trees are planted and nurtured by us for up to two years to ensure survival and fruiting.
How you can participate, contribute and help:
Contribute INR 251/-(USD 4.00) and we will plant one FRUIT tree on your behalf and nurture it for a year.
Contribute INR 501/-(USD 8.00) and we will plant two FRUIT trees on your behalf and nurture it for a year.
Contribute INR 1,001/- (USD 15.00) and we will plant five FRUIT trees for you at Chandanpiri and nurture it for a year.
Contribute ONLY INR 4,001/- (USD 65/-) and we will plant TWENTY ONE FRUIT trees for you at Chandanpiri and nurture it for a year.
All contributors will be given a tree planting certificate with their names embedded on the certificate.
Tree planting certificate to contributors of Fruit Tree planting at the Sunderbans.
A final word on why you should support our planting at the homesteads of marginal farmers in the Sunderbans:
SGI plants (fruit) trees - to fight global warming along with hunger, poverty and rural migration. The trees are planted in land owned by marginal/bpl farmers or in community owned lands like orphanages and old age homes etc.
In rural areas, SGI works through self help groups who identify and work with such needy farmers and help by providing saplings and money needed to plant and nurture the trees for an initial period of 2 years.
In orphanages, old-age homes and rural areas, a sapling planted and nurtured for 2 years grows into a (fruit) tree which can provide sustained nourishment and/or income to the beneficiary for 40-50 years or more.
A grove of 100 trees provides sustainable income to a family of four and ensures that they do not need to migrate to urban areas from their rural communities in search of food or livelihood. All this while fighting the ever increasing global menace of carbon dioxide and green house gas emissions which are responsible for climate change.
Inter cropping with seasonal vegetables add to livelihood and sustainability by providing fresh produce to communities and farmers.
Since 2013, SGI has planted over 25,000 trees across Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Delhi NCR. The money for the tree planting activity is raised from individuals, businesses and other social organizations as a tree planting, afforestation, ISR/CSR or sponsorship activity.
Our Partners:
For more:
Sustainable Green Initiative
Facebook Linkedin Twitter
Read a story of a tree: sgi.uberflip.com/t/41485
Press: Resilient Cities Mint Giving Issue
Youtube: Fruit Tree Planting at Mulvany House, an old age home in Kolkata, India
Climate Leader trained by Nobel Laureate Al Gore.
Winner: Certificate of Excellence for the 45 Cities ShaharGREEN Karo - It's Our Turn to Lead campaign.
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