Dear Reader,

 

Early morning on 24 July, Nidhi K., one of our writer-researcher fellows from the Woman Farmer Project, working in Madhya Pradesh, visited the village of Kapot Behra to interview a group of women farmers from the Baiga community who were displaced from the Kanha National Park. When she reached the village, she found that her primary contact was unavailable, and her interviewees were nowhere to be found. So when she noticed a woman from the village passing by, Nidhi stopped her, introduced herself, explained why she was visiting, and asked if she could interview her or any other women in the village. “Yes yes, let me gather all the other bais (women) in the village,” said 34-year-old Anusuya Merawi. 

As a part of The Locavore’s Woman Farmer Project, in collaboration with Doc Society Climate Story Unit, six writer-researcher and audio-visual fellows are documenting stories of women farmers across three distinct geographies in India—the drylands of Madhya Pradesh, the coastline of Tamil Nadu, and the hilly terrain of Meghalaya. 

Nidhi spent the next few hours going door to door with Anusuya, meeting women farmers across the village, gently asking them to share their stories. The women offered her much more. They invited Nidhi into their homes, consented to having their photos taken, and spent the hours before they went into the fields for daily-wage agricultural work, recalling memories and details about their lives. It was only 7 am, and Anusuya had already offered to cook Nidhi lunch. 

 

After talking to the women in Kapot Behra, Nidhi was able to put together a report on the long-term impact of displacement on women farmers from the Baiga community, reflecting on larger concerns of the climate crisis and women’s health and nutrition.

 

Kiran Admache, our audio-visual fellow in Madhya Pradesh, has been documenting the life of another woman farmer—Sombatti Meravi from Binori village. Through her film, Kiran’s aim is to explore the emotional, physical, and financial role that women play to keep the family and farm together. After spending time and building relationships with farmers like Sombatti and following their daily life and interactions, Kiran has been able to spotlight the everyday labour of women farmers in the region that often goes unnoticed. 

 

The objective of the Woman Farmer Project is to practise storytelling that is rooted in principles of consent, transparency, and care. Its success in storytelling is only made possible because of the willingness of various communities to allow reporters, writers, and researchers to interrupt their daily lives and routines. An interview during field reporting arises from a journalist’s need for information and their desire to tell a person’s story. But its strength lies in a community’s ability to be vulnerable with a stranger, and hope that the big and small details of their lives will be handled with sensitivity and respect. 

 

Our six fellows have now reached the end of their time reporting on the ground. As they make their way back, their stories and films will reflect the relationships they have built in the past 45 days. As they begin to frame these narratives, it is time for us at The Locavore to handle them with care. 

 

About 1,700 kilometres away from Madhya Pradesh, in Tamil Nadu, our audio-visual fellow Revathi Sunil and writer-researcher fellow Rashmi Sridhar are working with women in fishing communities in Rameshwaram. 

 

Revathi recalls how individuals readily, or sometimes hesitantly, shared with her their knowledge, their recipes, some space in their house, and an invitation to visit again. She talks about how Gracy akka’s Nagara fish curry made her less nervous in an unfamiliar place, how Anand Anna helped her map out Rameshwaram’s history, and how Mary Paati, a dried fish seller, struck up a conversation with her, discussing everything from politics to careers. “Come another day and have coffee, meet my grandchildren,” Mary told Revathi, as a way of saying goodbye. 

Meanwhile, for Rashmi, time on the field is centred around observing the nuances of women’s labour in coastal food systems. She has visited Rameshwaram’s fish markets, ports, factories, non-profit organisations, and government offices, interviewing various members of the fishing community. Through recurring conversations with women who participate in different activities—including catching, cleaning, drying, processing, and selling fish—Rashmi aims to highlight how women’s labour is crucial in upholding the seafood supply chain. 

 

When journalists go to the field, they depend on community leaders, families, vendors, workers, and local officials to help find their way. While one ‘source’ tries to lay the ground for context, another sincerely shares their feelings. While someone accompanies you on your daily market visits, someone else shares tips on how to survive the local weather. And there is always tea and food. 

 

In Meghalaya, our writer-researcher fellow Queeneerich Kharmawlong and audio-visual fellow Ibapdianghun Myria visited 76-year-old Kong Twian Nongrum in Laitsohpliah village, Sohra. Kong Twian, who grows medicinal plants and herbs on her land, gave them a tour of her farm land. Queeneerich pointed to a Sohphie (bayberry) leaf on the ground, and asked if she could eat it. “The next thing I know, Kong Twian had found a bayberry tree and was already halfway up, climbing it,” Queeneerich said. Thanks to her, Iba and Queeneerich tasted fresh bayberries during their field visit. 

Queeneerich’s reporting tracks the changing agriculture landscape in Meghalaya, and spotlights the different ways through which women farmers are adapting to increasing temperatures and scarcity of rainfall. While some women have committed to using traditional methods of agriculture, others are moving towards newer and hybrid methods of cultivation to meet demands. Queeneerich’s work reveals how various environmental, cultural, and socio-economic factors come together to affect the livelihood choices of women farmers. 

 

Ibapdianghun has focused on indigenous farming practices like jhum in Meghalaya. For her film set in Nongtraw village, she has documented the everyday lives of women farmers, observed their daily routine, and followed their work at home and in the fields. She has attempted to understand how generational farming systems are impacted by the climate crisis, in turn affecting women farmers’ labour in the long run. 

 

Since its inception three months ago, the Woman Farmer Project has aimed to build a practical model for collaborative storytelling that centres long-term relationships between communities and storytellers. Communities have not only motivated these stories but also helped construct them step by step, through conversations inside living rooms, in fields under open skies, or on the back of motorbikes. As always, there was tea and food.