A couple of months ago, when Usha Raju and Hima Bindu first stepped into a space in the Andhra University campus to create a community farm, they came across heaps of debris and overgrown weeds in the area that can be best described as a wasteland. The task in hand was challenging to say the least. But if they succeeded, it would become a unique community farm within the university, right in the heart of Visakhapatnam. It took them a month’s time to bring about the transformation.
Today, the initiative called as Andhra University Avani Organics Gardening Hub has grown into a thriving natural farm, which is gradually building a community of urban dwellers that seeks to understand the science of the soil.
In November 2023, Usha Raju and Hima Bindu of Avani Organics reached out to the Andhra University Vice Chancellor Prof. PVGD Prasad Reddy to introduce the concept of community farming on a piece of barren land opposite to the Dr Durgabai Deshmukh Centre for Women’s Studies. “We wanted to train the university students and residents of Visakhapatnam in natural farming techniques where they can volunteer as well as reap the benefits of farm produce,” says Usha, who has been in the field of natural farming from more than a decade and is one of the core members of Avani Organics.
