Organic Farming at Eastern Ghat Hill: A Boon to Tribal Farmers

Abstract

Kollihills is a small mountain range located at the tail end of the Eastern Ghats in Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Namakkal is being implemented Paramparaghat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) scheme at Elangiyampatti and Ariyur Nadu villages of Kollihills, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu since 2019. Local group formed in the name of KVK Masila PKVY Farmers group with 21 tribal farmers covering in an area of 20 ha. The crops covered under organic farming are Black pepper, Cardamom, Hill banana, Coffee, Vegetables, Tapioca and Millets. Initially 12 capacity building programmes were conducted to the tribal farmers on organic farm management, organic input production for soil fertility management, adoption of PGS standards in field practices and PGS certification. The tribal farmers started organic cultivation by using vermicompost, panchakavya, IISR Tricho capsules, bio fertilizers and waste decomposer application produced by their own. They did primary processing of organic spices and plantation crops by using primary processing unit established by KVK under TSP scheme and maintained by these farmers group. After completion of 3 years organic farming practices, all the tribal farmers got organic certification. They harvested 1370 kg of black pepper, 145 kg of Cardamom, 1700 kg of coffee beans, 625 bunches of hill banana, 9.1 tonnes of vegetables and 1.4 tonnes of millets per 0.4 ha area and sold the organic produce with brand name to nearby markets in Namakkal, Salem, Karur and Erode. They realized a net income of Rs.301500 from black pepper, Rs.317050 from caradamom, Rs.93700 from coffee, Rs.155400 from hill banana, Rs.112580 and Rs.23930 from Millets each in an area of 0.4 ha.