NISARGA (meaning is "nature" in Kannada language), a cooperative or federation of farmers in Karnataka State producing organic cereals, pulses and value added products has been established in 2007 with the support of Green Foundation (CBO) and financial support of Agriterra (project 05nt-4430 in 2006). The cooperative has been registered with the government of Karnataka in 2007. Inititally the Federation Janadhanya was estabished under the societies act (in 2006), but this registration did not allow a profit oriented approach. Therefore, it was decided to register also under the cooperative act as NISARGA.

NISARGA has 723 members of which 356 are women (49%). Each member has invested in one or 2 shares of NISARGA (functioning as a cooperative). Share capital of NISARGA is about € 2330 at present.

This project aims to further strengthen the Cooperative NISARGA, a cooperative of organic agriculturists established in 2007. The main focus is on capacity building/development of skills of the leaders and members of NISARGA and to enable the organization to become a viable income generating enterprise, yielding it members with a regular income. Main activities will be training in marketing, value addition and leadership; market assesment and elaboarte marketing stategies.

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