It\u2019s 8AM on a bright summer morning as students start streaming into the government school in the remote village of Sakhikuda, Bihar. Dressed in their uniforms, the students begin to get ready for the day\u2019s classes, but before that they have something important to do. Armed with hose pipes and trowels, the high school students start tending to their prized project – an organic kitchen garden. A few months old now, the organic kitchen garden grown by the children is helping make their midday meals more diverse, tasty and nutritious. <\/p>\n\n
Greenpeace India has been working with three schools in Jamui, Bihar to grow organic kitchen gardens, encouraging students and their families to adopt ecological agricultural practices. The Sakhikuda Government School in Jamui District is one of the success stories. The school children have adopted organic farming methods and are growing green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, beans, brinjal, pumpkin, okra, chillies, cabbage and more. It is a silent organic revolution in the making. <\/p>\n\n
After tending to their garden the students enthusiastically lined up with pans and baskets to set out on gobar daan<\/em> and beej daan<\/em> rallies. These donation rallies in the village help the students procure cow dung and seeds from the villagers. Slogans like \u201cJaevik kheti apnana hai, paryavaran ko bachana hai<\/em>\u201d (adopt organic agriculture to protect the ecosystem) and \u201cMaati ke jung mein, hum sab sang mein<\/em>\u201d (we are together in the fight of the soil) reverberated through the small village as the disciplined students walked along to collect donations. <\/p>\n\n Seema Kumari, a 15 year old student at the school, speaks about her experience, \u201cI come from a family of farmers and I have been practising agriculture my whole life. I was previously studying in another school. I joined Sakhikuda School in the past year and found the experience to be delightful. I enjoy growing my own food as part of the schooling experience. The food grown here tastes better, sweeter, and is more nutritious than food procured from the market. We grow garlic, tomato, onion, okra, cauliflower, cabbage, and many other varieties of vegetables. \u201d<\/p>\n\n