Mahadev Foundation

Mahadev Foundation  /  Samam  /  Taranya

Project SAMAM

Taranya: a farm that came back.

Taranya is a farm in Subraya Nagenahalli. Eucalyptus plantations had exhausted the land, and nothing grew on it. Samam's members and volunteers took it on. They mapped where the rain ran off, dug a pond and trenches to hold the water, and planted. Today the farm grows food, and people come to see it.

Visit Taranya
The same acre
Aerial view of the Taranya site before regeneration: bare, ploughed ground The same view after regeneration: planted beds, trees and a filled pond 2022Today
From the air, before and after. Drag the handle to compare.

One acre of exhausted farmland, adopted from its owner in July 2022 and rebuilt as a working model farm. The belt is semi-arid, planted over with eucalyptus, and had lost most of its topsoil. The point was never the acre — it was to have something nearby farmers could stand in and copy.

It has not been a straight line. Fire took the first year's mulch and green manure. Goats took what grew back. We fenced it, and kept going.

In photographs

How it came back.

The land as it was

Rain ran off the slope and cut into the soil. Little topsoil was left.

Bare land, with nothing growing on it.
Bare land, with nothing growing on it.
The rain ran off and cut a gully into the soil.
The rain ran off and cut a gully into the soil.
A cut through the ground: little topsoil was left.
A cut through the ground: little topsoil was left.

Reading the water

Before any digging, the plan: where the water runs, and where it can be held.

The site analysis: where the water runs, and where the bunds are broken.
The site analysis: where the water runs, and where the bunds are broken.
The plan to hold the water on the land.
The plan to hold the water on the land.

Holding the rain

The pond, newly dug.
The pond, newly dug.
Water stays on the land now.
Water stays on the land now.
The pond, full after the rain.
The pond, full after the rain.

What grew

Planted beds, from the air.
Planted beds, from the air.
The farm among the fields around it.
The farm among the fields around it.
Groundnuts, pulled from the soil.
Groundnuts, pulled from the soil.
A sunflower on the farm.
A sunflower on the farm.
Green plots and paths, from the air.
Green plots and paths, from the air.

Today

Taranya today.
Taranya today.
Come and see it

People come to see it, and to work on it.

Visits run through Samam. Groups, colleges and teams are welcome.

Taranya visitBack to Samam