Farm Service

On 13 August, the managers of Annapurna Farm received an email signed by three working groups constituted by the Governing Board – the Funds and Assets Management Committee, L’Avenir d’Auroville (Auroville’s Town Development Council) and the Farm Service – stating: “It has been decided to allocate 100 acres of Auroville land at Annapurna for the IIT [Indian Institute of Technology, eds.]

“Enhance Auroville food production to meet the needs of Auroville...” – View point of the Governing Board as recorded in the minutes of the 57th meeting.

After interactions with the farmers and directives from the Governing Board, The FO Farm Service and FO FAMC announced they have come up with a work plan for farming and food security in Auroville.

In an open letter to the Farm Service, the FO FAMC and the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, Auroville farmers raised their concern as to the announcement that three farm areas (Buddha Garden, Siddhartha and Shambala) are to be removed to make place for a road, parking lots and convenience facilities for a planned VIP road, a road which is not mentioned in the gazetted Master Plan.

Food Link serves as an intermediary service between farms and consumers. On June 20th, two long-standing executives of Food Link who have been working there for 25 and 7 years respectively were dismissed without prior notice or explanation or following due process.

The Auroville Farm Group has sent an open letter to the FO-FAMC and the newly created Farm Service questioning their decision to request Ayarpadi Farm to give up five acres of their cultivated land to be used by volunteers to explore a farming future.