On Monday, 18^th of December, volunteers from FSL-India’s Centre for Experiential Living (CEL), Kundapur, visited a local family, who is also a hosting family to one of our HBP volunteers, to build an Azolla tank.

After visiting CEL back in September for a training on Azolla cultivation, the family decided to start growing Azolla on their own, since the family can benefit from the plant because of its high level in protein and therefore, is perfect animal feed.

In the beginning, the volunteers dug a big hole, where later the tank would be created. This took a while, but after the hole was completed, the team laid out the plans and filled it with water.

Afterwards, we added filtered soil and slurry (cow dung with water) and built a shade net to cover the Azolla tank, to prevent leaves from falling into the pond and also secure it from animals.

The Azolla tank makes it unnecessary for the family to buy cow fodder from now on since now, they can grow it themselves. This doesn’t only benefit the family but also helps sustain peasantry by being an alternative to supporting industrialized agriculture, bringing with it pesticides, monocultures and over- fertilized rivers.

FSL-India aims to educate and inspire more families to cultivate Azolla for their livestock’s daily needs.