HEADING TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE WITH JANBHOOMI

96.4 million hectares of land suffer from degradation in India. 5% of organic matter in the soil indicates good soil health, however with the overuse of chemical fertilizers, Indian soil hardly has 0.4%. With an aim to revitalize the degraded land and ensure proper waste management, Enactus Kirori Mal College initiated Project JanBhoomi in 2018 which solves a myriad of problems by providing solutions through our various initiatives to promote an organic lifestyle. Our journey began with a collaboration with the Indian Agricultural Research Institute to gain expertise in composting. We then partnered with NGOs to help migrant communities from Bihar and Nepal gain skills and establish their own vermicompost pits. We also formed a consultancy service to help institutions set up compost pits, resulting in the set up of 20 pits producing over 9,290 kgs of compost. In 2018, a collaboration with the Government of Haryana enabled us to visit over 75 villages across the Palwal district and encourage farmers to substitute chemical fertilizers for compost to boost the harvest and reduce input prices. Given its viability, compost tackles two problems simultaneously; it helps in taking care of the waste generated whilst striving towards the ultimate goal of making the environment ‘green’ by reducing the magnitude of the many harmful effects that the widespread use of chemical fertilizers causes to the planet.

Creating impact at the grassroots level, we collaborated with Angelique Foundation by converting flowers dumped in rivers annually at Birla Mandir into 1000kgs of organic flower compost in one year. JanBhoomi also launched a gardening toolkit to encourage people to adopt an eco-friendly way of life. The toolkit included 5 high-quality tools, including a hand cultivator, fork, trowel, weeder, and transplanter, all in a jute bag. To further its aim of tackling the menace of increasing landfills and inefficient waste management, Project JanBhoomi is now set to launch terracotta home composters handcrafted by a community of potters from the Potters’ Colony in Delhi, which has been facing hardships in recent years due to a lack of work and deteriorating demand of earthenware. The product consists of three compartments in which biodegradable waste is turned into compost. The home composter is accompanied by a complementary product called CocoPeat which is a multi-purpose growing medium made out of coconut husk to hasten the process of compost
formation in a 100% organic manner.This product aims to impact not only households but also the economically deprived communityof potters, to do their bit for the environment by being a part of the production process. It would help reduce the burden of municipal bodies, avoid future build-up of landfills, and uplift the community by providing them with an additional source of income and a platform to showcase their traditional art form. The soil is the greatest connector of our lives- the source, and destination of all. From sowing plants to building civilizations, it has generously sustained our livelihoods. Now, the time has come for us to sustain our land; to nurture it, and care for it, through Project JanBhoomi and its
sustainable initiatives. The vision of our project is to ensure that the fertility of the available land should be maximized to make the most of this limited resource and maximize productivity. Our project strives to combat global warming, and climate change and form more sustainable
business models with an optimistic approach for a better tomorrow. Let’s all unite for a greener and cleaner future