NISARGA (meaning is "nature" in Kannada language), a cooperative or federation of farmers in Karnataka State producing organic cereals, pulses and value added products has been established in 2007 with the support of Green Foundation (CBO) and financial support of Agriterra (project 05nt-4430 in 2006). The cooperative has been registered with the government of Karnataka in 2007. Inititally the Federation Janadhanya was estabished under the societies act (in 2006), but this registration did not allow a profit oriented approach. Therefore, it was decided to register also under the cooperative act as NISARGA. NISARGA has 723 members of which 356 are women (49%). Each member has invested in one or 2 shares of NISARGA (functioning as a cooperative). Share capital of NISARGA is about € 2330 at present. This project aims to further strengthen the Cooperative NISARGA, a cooperative of organic agriculturists established in 2007. The main focus is on capacity building/development of skills of the leaders and members of NISARGA and to enable the organization to become a viable income generating enterprise, yielding its members with a regular income. Main activities will be training in marketing, value addition and leadership; market assessment and elaborate marketing stategies.

Green Foundation is an NGO which has succesfully facilitated the establishment of 48 Community Seed Banks for traditional crops throughout the State of Karnataka and in some cases Tamil Nadu. The Seed Banks are the cornerstone of the Green Foundation´s approach to promote the cultivation of traditional / indigeneous crops and organic cultivation practices. Facing it´s succes in establishment of the Seed Banks, Green Foundation has decided to establish a separate and autonomeous federation consisting of the representatives of the Community Seed Banks. The Native Seed Conservers Federation will be responsible for the management of the Seed Banks and function as a resource centre for documentation and knowledge dissemination related to agro-biodiversity and indigeneous knowledge. A market survey will be conducted to understand the size and preferences of the market and to formulate a business plan to further improve market access. The newly established Federation (registration in process: registration expected in April-May 2006) will furthermore need support in the development of management capacities, entrepreneurial skills and handling marketing operations (from production to collection, sorting, processing, packaging etc.).