Actor-director Srinivasan did an encore on Wednesday by wading into a two-acre paddy field near his house in Kandanad, about 15 km from here, as part of his campaign to woo more people into farming and ensure safety of the food we eat.
This is the third year in a row the actor is using farming to convey a message to his fans and the larger audience in Kerala, where acreage under food crops has shrunk significantly over the last 30 years.
Appeal to farmers
He appealed to farmers and people at large to abandon unscientific organic practices and use of synthetic fertilisers, and urged them to go back to nature. He said he was employing the celebrated Subhash Palekar model of natural cultivation.
Mr. Srinivasan, helped by K.M. Hilal, who has helped popularise rice cultivation using the zero-budget natural farming methods, used a transplanter in the field to plant saplings.
Mr. Srinivasan is backed by land owner P. K. Prakash and the ‘Green Army’ from Pampakkuda block panchayat in his venture.
The use of the transplanter has particularly been highlighted to tell farmers that mechanised farming could reduce the cost of cultivation considerably.
