Ms. K. Abhisheka has been undertaking periodic reviews of the state of biodiversity at Angarika Maala. This is the most recent report and indicates the changes that have taken place over the years. Click here for the report.

We continue to remember ‘SOIL VASU’

We continue to remember ‘SOIL VASU’ (aka P. Srinivas: 1959-2025) considered Angarike Maala his ‘punya bhoomi’ and had conducted many training sessions on soil at this ‘living lab’. A maverick who initiated public awareness about soil and its importance, he breathed all matters related to soil. We remember him for his infectious enthusiasm, his humour, his Kannada songs and poems, and his muddled calendar. Punarchith’s soil displays and the hands on soil learning activities are owed to him. In his memory, we hope to sustain the centrality of soil in all our activities at Angarike Maala.

Since the inauguration of the utility building, subsequent programmes and events at Angarike Maala have engaged over 400 participants in total. Programs held at Angarike Maala have increased small farmers’ interest and knowledge in sustainable agriculture, improved children’s land mapping and conservation skills, and have given event participants curiosity and learning about agro-ecology, all through hands-on practical learning. This year, we successfully hosted two “Bhoomi Bandhavya” (“Land Bonding) programmes through Honneru at Angarike Maala, where discussions were held on soil, water, agriculture, rural life, and local food systems.

Full cultivation processes continue to be implemented for each season, including preparing the field/readying the field, sowing, and harvesting. The 2024 monsoons resulted in good yields of ragi at the start of this year, but the 2025 monsoons were dry and resulted in a lower-than-expected level of yield.

While Angarike Maala has seen strides of improvement, from a degraded piece of bare land to a thriving learning, agricultural, and conservation zone, we continue to face challenges much like most agriculturists and small farmers in the region. There is a lack of agricultural labour at critical times, it is difficult to find bullkock-driven ploughs, the land’s soil health has not been on par with expectations, and boars and other wildlife pose difficulties to crop growth.

Harvesting of ragi and other crops

This year brought with it good monsoon rain and the inauguration of the utility building. With the inauguration, the centre became vibrant with training programs, children’s activities, International Women’s Day, World Soil Day, World Environment Day, local harvest festival (Suggi Habba) and guest visits.  Training programs have been held on climate change, dryland farming, mixed cropping, soil, water, and biodiversity.

Drought year

Since the drought in 2023 had devastated the land and the construction has also disrupted the area, we thought this phase of great disruption should also be documented. Dr. M. Vivek of Bengaluru kindly consented to undertaking this documentation at non-commercial rates. He came with an assistant, Akash, and photographed the land during various times of the day.

Heavy Rainfall Year

2022 brought us heavy rainfall (average of about 1100 mm, above the established annual average of 780mm) and made the conservation activities more viable. Not only did the tree saplings pick up growth, but the water level in the ponds, open-well, and tube-well went up. However, the unseasonal rains did not make for supportive production conditions for the cultivated crops and we harvested less amounts of pulses, cereals, and oil seeds than we expected. But, we were also gratified to see that the water retention and drought tolerance capacities of our land was much higher than any of our neighbours, most of whom lost all standing crops. How we can make agricultural land resilient to the extremes of climate change is a challenge that we need to address.

This year, Dr. Samira Agnihotri initiated trials of the traditional Solega method of litter fire at Angarike Maala. Three Solega men, Range Gowda, Kethe Gowda, and Veere Gowda, have been coming regularly to conduct the annual fires and to also help with documentation and identification of plants/grasses. In addition, Solega elder women, Masanamma and Rangamma and their daughters and granddaughters, have also come and identified the plants that have grown in this site. A key feature of these visits by the Solega has been the fact that they are able to relate to the landscape and to the flora and fauna and has led them to have singing and dancing sessions there. This has also consolidated their confidence and the need to retrieve their knowledge and practices related to landscape conservation. Details of this are being documented (written and photographs) by Vinay Kumar.

This year, in collaboration with the Indesign team of landscape architects, we have reconceptualized Angarikemaala as a possible ‘Living Lab’— a space where ideas about ecological conservation, economic viability and social justice can be tried, debated, show-cased, and shared.

A bamboo nursery and a small patch of ‘litter fire’ or taragubenki were carried out with advice, skills and knowledge from Solegas (an Adivasi group that resides in the region). New earthworks were initiated with the help of Bovis (stoneworkers) from Nagavalli and these efforts have helped us take a few steps towards developing Angarikemaala (AM) as a demonstrative place for local knowledge and sustainable practices.

It was our pleasure to see and enjoy the land sprout several species of grasses, wild flowers, and creepers. Several small creatures have started to visit the land and make it their habitat. 2021 has witnessed one manifestation of climate change in the form of excessive rains during the North-East monsoon. Our thriving fields of ragi, pigeon pea, green gram and horse gram were victims and we harvested less than a quarter of what we had expected. These were key lessons for us: to prepare to mitigate and adapt to climate change, therefore another responsibility that Angarike Maala as a ‘Living Lab’ will have to play.

2020 marked five years since initiating restoration cum conservation work— it was a turn-around year for Angarike Maala. The intermittent rains brought a host of newcomers to the land; mushrooms sprang up, as did a variety of creepers, flowers, shrubs and a multitude of grasses. The neem tree invited a small bee-hive and weaver birds wove their nests on the beautia tree. All-in-all it was a reassuring time for us, to see the land revive, express its wealth of local biodiversity, and show signs of encouragement to us. And, the most exciting was the yields of fruits: chikoos, pomegranate, papaya, passion fruit, and wit lemon, all in small quantities but which gave us immense pleasure.