Khet Jyoti Fund

Khet Jyoti Fund was created to provide debt relief to farmers in dire circumstances in India's suicide belt, This fund is a participatory action fund intent on transitioning farmers from input intensive agriculture to self-sustaining, organic agriculture that creates it's inputs on-site, and disconnects the farmer from the need to take out further loans.

Khet Jyoti Means Farm Light

The Khet Jyoti Fund. Khet Jyoti Fund, or Farm Light Fund was given life by generous donors like yourself. It structures debt relief packages for struggling farmers in India’s suicide belt, while offering a four-year participatory remediation program from chemical to organic agriculture to restore the vitality of their land, create better managemment strategies, and create their own organic fertilizers and pesticides onsite. Additionally,Act Naturally works with the farmer to provide non-GMO seedstock, insurance against crop failure in the interim years, and farm education and resources sourced locally.

Act Naturally Steps in Where Government and Corporations Fail

The debt relief packages provided by the Indian government have restrictions that disqualify many people in urgent situations. Act Naturally will provide debt relief regardless of credit qualification based on demonstrated need. The farmer and family is interviewed. Local farming unions, associations and groups are consulted informally to discuss any history that maybe associated with the indebted farmer. Local N.G.O.Ss and civic organizations working in the area will also be consulted. These interviews are conducted to understand the cause and scope of debt.

In the cases where the debts are categorized as an effect of globalization, the farmer can opt for a conditional sponsorship for four years. The sponsorship is in place to migrate the farmer away from industrial agriculture which ties the farmer contractually to seed providers such as Monsanto, loan sharks, and pesticide manufacturers. These ties create a cycle of dependency and debt, and devalue agriculture as a healthy, profitable and nutriative alternative to poverty and urbanization. The final product available after four years of remediation, is a value added, healthy, low carbon footprint produce - a profitable preferred alternative at the local market place.

Our goal is to disconnect the farmer from the expensive seasonal input cycle, by making him/her self sufficient, saving seed, and a successful profitable organic example in their community.

When you donate to the Khet Jyoti Fund, you are donating to the first of its kind grassroots initiative that goes beyond handing out money and food for those marginalized and starving,  to  handing over tools to empower their own transition.

In an article posted to Yes Magazine critical of the World Food Program,  Eric Holt-Gimenez,  states,

“International trade agreements and pressure from the global North opened up entire continents to cheap, subsidized grain from the North. This put local farmers out of business, devastated local crop diversity, and consolidated control of the world’s food system in the hands of multinational corporations. Today three companies, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Cargill, and Bunge control 90 percent of the world’s grain trade.”

The situation is same in India, who became victim to the quick-fix, top-down Green Revolution of the 60s, which handed India’s fields over to mega corporations who sold war chemicals as agrichemicals, and stripped India’s fertility and earth movers of their prana.

The Khet Jyoti fund also covers Act Naturally's operating costs. A full schedule of these costs are published bi yearly and are made available to all members and subscribers. Our goal is to keep all operating costs, including payroll below 30% of al monies collected. That means we direct 70% of all monies into our mission with full disclosure to our members.