| Kolli Hills and Namakkal |
| |
| Ensuring quality seed stock, demonstration
of enhanced production and productivity in millets,
upscaling and creating awareness on processing and value
addition, streamlining marketing of millets, chronicling
and documentation of traditional knowledge associated
with minor millets were taken up during the year. |
| |
| Ensuring Quality Seed Stock |
| |
| Millet Seed Multiplication and Cultivation:
As a part of participatory conservation, 510 kg of little
millet seeds were produced and given to seed banks in
Sembothuvalavu, Aripalapatti, Alathur and Nariankadu
at Kolli Hills. About 35 % of the seeds was borrowed
from the seed banks, and the rest was distributed to
farmers at the Adi18 festival. A comprehensive geneseed-
grain bank continuum plan was developed and the process
initiated by having discussions with the SHGs in Padasolai,
Sembothuvalavu and Thuvarapallam at Thirupuli Nadu.
The president of the Panchayat has offered a piece of
public land for locating the bank. |
| |
| Maize F1 hybrid seed production |
| |
| As a part of the community feed
grain bank programme, landless women labourers produced
maize hybrid seeds (CoHM4) in leased land, with the
support of farmers’clubs at Varagur and Veerabayangaram.
After receiving training at the various stages of seed
production, landless women SHGs produced 616 kg/ acre
in Varagur and 292 kg/ acre in Veerabayangaram. Seeds
worth of Rs 40,000 have been produced and tested by
the Seed Certification Office. SHGs were trained in
seed grading, treatment and packing, and seeds were
marketed by farmers’ clubs at a nominal price of Rs
50 per kg. |
| |
| Seed distribution:
Farmers of Varagur were provided with popular varieties
of seeds on loan, for maize cultivation in their region.
Members of the club borrowed Rs 2 lakhs from the Indian
Bank, Erumapatty, for procuring the seeds. With this
venture, three hundred acres of land in Varagur was
placed under maize. This year an additional fifty acres
were brought under maize cultivation from the hybrid
seed produced by the SHGs. |
| |
| Participatory
demonstration of improved agronomic techniques Participatory
Variety Selection: As a result of the three successive
cycles, 36 accessions of finger millet, Italian millet
and little millet, including 5 local landraces, have
been chosen according to qualitative and quantitative
parameters. Further selection was carried out with the
participation of tribal farmers in Kolli Hills and the
results are being analyzed. A demonstration on differential
yield of millets under traditional broadcasting and
line sowing is being conducted over the last two years.
Results reveal that under traditional broadcasting,
the agronomic cost is Rs 5165/ha whereas in the line
sowing method of cultivation, the cost is Rs 3,098/ha
reducing the cost by about 40 %. The performance in
yield in line sowing is about 1,255 kg/ha whereas in
the broadcasting technique it was observed that the
yield was only about 783 kg/ha. The yield has increased
over 60 % due to broadcasting. This demonstration trial
has created an awareness about the improved agronomic
technique of line sowing among the local farmers. |
| |
| Inter
cropping with tapioca: An improved intercropping
technique of millets and tapioca was demonstrated for
additional income. These demonstrations showed that
there is an opportunity for increased income ranging
from Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000, through the line sowing technique,
as well as 10 % additional income through intercropping.
Several training programmes were conducted on variety
selection, improved agronomic techniques, inter cropping
and value addition to build the capacity of tribal people. |
| |
| Sesame
programme: To increase the area under the cultivation
of sesame, several demonstrations were organized, through
which the operational area of sesame has been increased
by 12 %, and productivity from an average 303 kg/acre
to 408 kg/acre. |
| |
| SHG and Income Generating Activities |
| |
| Value
addition of Millets: Men SHGs owning millet processing
mills processed about 3,980 kg of little millet and
Italian millet with the support of Millet-Growing Farmers
and Marketing SHGs. They earned Rs 0.66 lakhs through
millet marketing by Food World. This effort has resulted
in increasing interest among the tribal community in
cultivating traditional millets. Efforts have been initiated
for export market linkages with Ion Exchange Enviro
Farms Ltd. |
| |
| Promotion
of organic farming: Data collection, mapping
and compilation of data on fruits like pineapple and
guava and crops like millets and pepper, have been carried
out for organic certification. Ecocert has certified
the organic nursery, and the organic pineapple cultivating
farmers received NOP (National Organic Programme,USA)
certificates. In addition, about 35 ha of fallow land
has been put under organic pineapple farming, with a
financial subsidy of Rs 5 lakhs from DRDA, Namakkal.
Several buyers have shown interest in purchasing organic
farming products, especially traditional millets. Pineapple
farmers have earned Rs 15.5 lakhs during the year and
the SHG involved in organic pineapple export has earned
Rs 1.15 lakhs. A study on the scenario of pineapple
export and the impact on the farmers, was carried out.
The case study highlighted the effectiveness of the
SHGs in procuring pineapple for export, and pointed
out to some of the emerging requirements, like the effective
adoption of organic agricultural techniques, documentation,
demonstration and internal control mechanisms. |
| |
| Backyard
poultry development: SHGs were trained in rearing
country chicks procured from the Veterinary College
and Research Institute, Namakkal and taken on exposure
trips to Auroville, Pondicherry. Groups were identified
for backyard poultry micro enterprise and a methodology
was evolved for sustainable rearing in Kolli Hills,
Namakkal and Villupuram. |
| |
| Community
feed and grain banks: A network marketing system
was created among CFBs to reduce exploitation by middlemen.
With the financial support of Rs 2 lakhs from the Indian
Bank, Erumapatty, Varagur Farmers’ Club procured grains
from the Veerabayangaram farmers’ club and marketed
150 tons of maize with a special label, including the
name of farmers’ club, the weight and moisture content,
directly to the poultry feed units. Through this enterprise,
farmers learnt techniques of marketing such as grading
and preservation. Training was provided to farmers on
the use of moisture meters and grain quality. |
| |
| Chronicling Traditional Knowledge
|
| |
| Documentation of traditional knowledge
has been a part of the programme since its inception
in Kolli Hills. About 103 local medicinal plants and
their uses have been documented through the barefoot
taxonomist programme supported by FRLHT, Bangalore,
as well as traditional recipes of 110 preparations,
published as resource material in English and Tamil.
Seven individuals have been trained under the village
botanist programme of FRLHT. |
| |
| Capacity building and training |
| |
| Members of farmers’ clubs were taken
to Agri. Index to learn about post harvest processing,
micro irrigation methods and machinery. Farmers learnt
the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) techniques
from the biovillage in Pondicherry and TNAU, for the
sustainability of grassroot institutions and pipelining
government programmes (Tables 3.1 and 3.2). Two clusters
namely Pasumai and Pothigai were organized in Varagur
and Veerabayangaram. As a result of these activities,
around five thousand acres of land is under maize cultivation in and around
Namakkal and Villupuram districts. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| |
