The Hindu Business Line : Organic paddy experiment successful in Palakkad

Kochi, Sept. 23 The successful culmination of experimental organic paddy cultivation undertaken in a demonstration plot in Ayiloor Panchayat at Nemmara has kindled hopes in the minds of the farmers of Palakkad of fetching a better price for their produce.

The Ayiloor Panchayat Agriculture Officer, Mr Sivasankaran Achari, said that popularisation of organic paddy cultivation was in tune with the State Government’s recently announced organic policy.

The crop, grown for the first time in a four-acre plot owned by farmer Mr A.J. Kaladharan, was harvested by Ayiloor Panchayat President Mr K. Sugathan at a function held at Karakkatuparamba Pathiapady Padasekharam at Ayiloor.

This demonstration plot was the culmination of a joint effort made recently by POABS Group and the Agricultural Department to promote organic paddy cultivation in the Panchayat.

The meeting, which saw the participation of a large number of farmers of the region, reached a consensus to grow organic paddy in an estimated area of 500 acres in the Panchayat in a phased manner in the light of the growing global awareness on the need to grow more organic products.

The POABS Group, which had been promoting organic paddy cultivation and procuring the crop from farmers in Kuttanad area of Alappuzha district since 2004, has already come forward to procure organic paddy grown in Nemmara too.

Group Director Mr Thomas Jacob received the harvested crop from Ayiloor Panchayat, marking the formal commencement of the procurement.

Mr Jacob also offered a premium price of 25 per cent for the paddy above the prevailing market price until the produce obtains international organic certification, which is expected within three years of growing the crop.The certification itself would ensure the produce an enhanced price of 40-50 per cent above the market rate, he added.

The encouraging results produced by the crop has also generated greater enthusiasm from among the growers in the Panchayat to shift to organic paddy cultivation, giving the expectation that the company’s target of bringing at least 500 acres under organic paddy cultivation could be achieved within a short period.

POABS had extended technical guidance and support, including supply of organic manure, bio-fertilisers and bio-control agents for the crop under its cash-and-carry buyback programme.

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