The incentive to farm has been steadily declining, particularly for small farmers. Whether it’s the monkey menace, the unpredictability of monsoons, or the meagre returns on real effort — somehow, the risks and incentives around farming have become deeply unbalanced. Many farmers in our neighbourhood have had little choice but to abandon agriculture, sell land, or migrate.
As part of Kaaya’s urban-rural connect work, we’ve been learning — alongside our neighbours — to grow organic. A kitchen garden initiative in the neighbourhood has become a small but genuine experiment in what it might look like to make small-scale farming viable again: better soil practices, shared knowledge, and a market that doesn’t punish people for growing food close to home.
It is early, and far from solved. But every season, a few more households are trying it. That, on its own, feels like something worth continuing.
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