The Hindu Business Line : Farmers coop bank ventures into organic paddy farming

THE initiative of a farmers' Cooperative Bank in Kerala's Thrissur district has culminated in its 2,400 peasant-members joining together to cultivate organic paddy in 2,500 acres of kol-wetland in Adat Panchayat.

The Farmers' Bank with a deposit base of Rs 52 crore and total advances amounting to Rs 48 crore, as part of its market intervention exercises to ensure the paddy growers of a moderate price, has embarked upon cultivating organic paddy, given the future potential demand at a higher price, Mr M.V. Rajendran, President of the Bank, told Business Line on Monday.

The "increasing shift towards organic food products following the growing awareness about the ill-effects of chemical fertilisers and pesticides has encouraged us to think of experimenting with the cultivation of paddy in the kol land available in the Panchayat," he said. The premium price it could fetch being an organic product was another motivating factor for taking up this venture, he said. It is probably for the first time that such a cooperative effort has taken place in the State, he said.

The crop will be ripe for harvesting after a month. The cultivation is done under the supervision of the certifying agency Indocert.

The entire cost of the cultivation has been financed by the Bank at the rate of Rs 8,000 an acre. The cost of cultivation of normal paddy would come to around Rs 6,000 per acre, he said.

Contrary to the apprehension of a low yield, the crop is expected to be good with an estimated 60,000 tonne of organic paddy. Since the farmers have taken up organic cultivation for the first time, 50 kg of urea has been used along with neem cake and rock phosphate as fertilisers, which the certifying agency has allowed, he said.

Instead of chemical pesticides, a mixture of neem oil, garlic juice and asafoetida has been used. Since the field is kol land, which used to remain under water for seven months of the year, it used to be fertile per se, he said. The water is pumped out and the field is prepared for cultivation of the paddy.

The next crop would be cultivated without using urea so as to make it fully organic. "Indocert would be giving us the certification after the next cultivation", he said.

The marketing of the produce would be undertaken by the Bank, which would procure the entire paddy and mill it in its own facility. Its marketing discussions are in the final stages with two major groups in the State.