The agriculture team at the Bengaluru Ashram associated with has grown 400 kg of mango ginger on just 500 square feet of land using permaculture practices, claiming a yield four times higher than that achieved through conventional chemical farming.
The initiative highlights how nature-based agricultural methods can improve land productivity while promoting sustainable resource use. The team has described the effort as an example of “waste-to-wealth”, demonstrating the potential of working with natural ecosystems to make farming more productive.
“The agriculture team at the Bengaluru Ashram has grown 400 kg of ‘mango-ginger’ in just 500 sq ft of land using permaculture practices, achieving a 4x higher yield compared to typical chemical farming. A perfect example of waste-to-wealth,” Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar wrote in a post on X.
The initiative is part of the Permaculture programme, which says it has spent more than a decade promoting sustainable agricultural practices inspired by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. According to the organisation, its work began on a six-acre farm with rocky terrain and has since expanded across thousands of acres in India.
More than 1,500 families have directly benefited from its training programmes, while awareness campaigns, live sessions and videos have reached millions, the organisation says.
Permaculture combines the ideas of permanent agriculture and, more broadly, permanent culture. The concept was developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s and focuses on designing productive, self-sustaining systems that work with nature rather than against it.
The approach extends beyond crop cultivation to include land management, sustainable architecture, community planning and everyday living. Its central principles are Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share.
The Art of Living Permaculture programme places emphasis on improving soil fertility, conserving water and maintaining healthy ecosystems. It groups these priorities under what it calls the “AWE factor” — Air, Water and Earth.
Rather than prescribing particular crops, the programme focuses on strengthening the natural conditions needed for sustainable cultivation, including enriching soil, harvesting rainwater and supporting biodiversity.
The initiative comes amid growing concerns over , extreme weather events, plastic use and agriculture’s dependence on external markets and inputs. Its approach advocates bringing ecological health and agricultural productivity together, with the aim of reducing waste and building more resilient farming systems.
