Farm issues

In July 2023, an email was received by Ayarpadi farm demanding that they hand over “the land parcel that you are farming in situated next to Windarra, as well as the service farm” so that the land could be reallocated to “Aurovillians [sic] who have undergone 6 months of training at Unity Farm”. The Farm Group responded with a letter which stated that they were taken aback by the request, going on to say: “We wonder why you want to take a part of a good functioning farm to experiment with. Ayarpadi has been consistently producing field crops on this part of their farm. The farm produces many grains that are in short supply in Auroville such as paddy, peanuts, ragi and sesame, as well as being the main supplier of boiled rice to Solar Kitchen.”

Ayarpadi Farm has now received an email from the AVFO ‘Farm Service’, which stated that they would no longer be considering Ayarpadi Farm land for reallocation.

The Auroville Farm Group reports that when farmers’ maintenances were cut with no notice many farms and farmers found themselves in considerable difficulty. Individual farmers found their lifestyles were affected and several were unable to go on paying back loans both personal and on the farm. Several farmers are now surviving on savings and/or making money for living expenses by doing non farming activities. Some are thinking about growing more cash crops to bring in more money or growing more profitable crops rather than just increasing production, and some have had to delay planned investment indefinitely until they are able to restructure the farm finances.

 Initial financial support was found for those farms and farmers in acute difficulty but a more long term solution for farm support is being sought. There have been wide ranging discussions about how to do this.