Ghor Bari

The Rural Futures dream for self-sufficient communities creating interdependence between nature and economics through regenerative, natural capital based economy begins at Baligaon Mising village, by building a self-sufficient green village with equitable access to universal basic assets & alternate livelihoods. At the heart of this vision for self-sufficiency lies the principles of agroecology and agroforestry, to minimize disruptions to local ecosystems while providing communities with a rich source of livelihood and nutrition options.
The Ghor Bari programme builds on these principles to create self-sufficiency among the community of Baligaon Mising village, by transforming kitchen gardens into miniature, organically-cultivated food forests that serve a wide variety of food and crop needs of households. The community’s traditional knowledge of plants and seeds play a critical role in developing these food forests, by leveraging traditionally cultivated plants and the unique local strains of these plants to build truly resilient crops. These food forests mimic the micro-climes of forests, minimizing the need for intensive water and fertilizer use. Their diversity also mimics the diversity of forest ecosystems on a smaller scale, offering a home to all kinds of biodiversity, particularly birds.
Through these forests, communities will have a more diversified portfolio of crops, ranging from food crops to commercial crops to medicinal plants. Together, they offer a broader range of livelihood opportunities, from traditional medicines to handicrafts to sales on local markets. The food forest also creates greater nutritional self-sufficiency by minimizing the reliance on externally imported food crops for consumption.