On February 21, 2025, a workshop on grow bag preparation using dried banana stems was conducted at Andhra Mahila Sabha. The session covered a step-by-step demonstration of preparing grow bag and included discussions on effective marketing strategies for urban gardening. The training was led by Mr. Alladi Mahadevam from The Organic Farm, in collaboration with the Chennai Resilience Centre. This initiative aimed to empower Self-Help Group (SHG) women with sustainable urban gardening techniques and providing them with practical skills for small-scale agribusiness opportunities. These grow bags will be used for seed propagation. This method not only reduces plastic usage but also allows seedlings to be transplanted directly with the biodegradable banana grow bags.
The participating women had previously received urban gardening training and were also well-trained by CIKS and Sempulam as part of a women’s empowerment initiative. Ms. Janani from CIKS attended the workshop to further enhance her expertise in sustainable agriculture and urban gardening practices. Moving forward, CIKS plans to experiment with using these grow bags.