A city-based farmer has won a coveted national award in recognition of his efforts to promote organic farming with less-known techniques.
Sixty-year-old R. Raveendran of Kochulloor is one of the five farmers who have been selected for the prestigious IARI Fellow Farmer Award 2017, instituted by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) that functions under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. He was presented the award by Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Parsottam Rupala at the Krishi Unnathi Mela-2017 held in New Delhi a week ago.
An automobile engineer by qualification, Mr. Raveendran has been selected for the award for his “unparalleled achievement in farming” in which he has developed a model in terrace gardening with paddy, vegetables and fruit crops.
He has undertaken cultivation by utilising organic fertilizers, including vermi-compost, fish amino acid, egg mixture and organic pesticides.
He is also credited with developing Hridayamruth, a nutrient-rich fertilizer that is prepared using cooking waste, leftovers, various green leaves, including basil, neem and Siam weed, jaggery, sardines and cow urine. Mr. Raveendran, who runs an ATMA urban agriculture practical field training school, was also lauded for his efforts in disseminating information regarding improved technologies among fellow farmers and for producing and distributing organic fertilizers and pesticides.
This is not the first time he has been felicitated by the IARI — he had bagged the Innovative Farmer Award in 2014. He had shot to fame after he harvested a massive African white yam that weighed 275 kg and was listed in the Limca Book of Records in 2011. Besides, he has received numerous awards for his efforts in agriculture.
