Our Work

Our Objective

Improving farm livelihoods in drylands

Dry lands are vast, neglected and progressively getting degraded. Majority of the farming population are dry land farmers and resource poor. struggling to make a living. Increasingly it is realized that the livelihood improvements, food and income security, new sources of growth, ecological stability are linked to paying adequate attention to these areas. AME Foundation has been strengthening sustainable small farmer livelihoods by promoting ecological agriculture for more than three decades. AME Foundation has been guiding small and marginal rainfed farmers to manage their natural farm resources better, practice alternative eco-farming practices for enhanced yields and reduced costs. AMEF believes that sustainable management of natural resources is the key to improved livelihoods, stable agricultural development as well as improved ecological balances.

Our Focus Areas

a) Promoting Agro ecology

Agroecological systems are diverse, more resilient to the impacts of climate change and is a viable alternative, that can contribute substantially to food and nutrition security, soil fertility, access to water, rural employment, and farmer autonomy. AMEF has been promoting agro ecology in drylands since three decades through LEISA approaches. This is done by

• Helping farmers to adapt and sustain through changing climatic conditions through better management of natural resources
• Helping farmers to make better choices of crops, cropping systems and farming systems and enable them to adopt the ecological agriculture practices.
• Building local level farmer institutions and their capacities to sustain the adoption of ecological agriculture

b) Facilitating Knowledge Exchange

An enormous body of practices and experiences on agroecology, generated and developed on the field need to be shared widely to inspire farmers make the transition to agroecological way of farming. AMEF facilitates knowledge exchange by helping organisations systematically document and share experiences widely through various means. This is done through

• Knowledge sharing through LEISA India magazine
• Helping organisations to systematically document and share their experiences
• Promote knowledge exchange platforms through building alliances

Areas of Operation

AMEF has been working in the three South Indian States – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Presently the areas of operation include Kolar, Dharwad and Magadi areas in Karnataka and Dharmapuri and Pennagaram areas in Tamil Nadu.