‘Signature of Life in the Green’ (Pachappil Jeevante Kaiyyoppu), the catchword coined by the development wing of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, Vikasana Sanghom, as part of its ambitious organic farming promotion programme is fast getting popular.
The project to promote organic vegetable cultivation to counter the threat of pesticides is the brainchild of Mar Thoma Metropolitan Joseph Mar Thoma, says Fr. K.Y. Jacob, director, Vikasana Sanghom.
Fr. Jacob told The Hindu that the Metropolitan had already launched the Vikasana Sanghom programme for distribution of vegetable seeds and saplings to households in rural and urban reaches of Kerala. “Our mission is to make the State self-reliant in vegetable production through organic farming,” he said. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra under the Church-sponsored Christian Agency for Rural Development at Thelliyoor, near Thiruvalla, has been supplying seeds and saplings for free distribution among households. Fr. Jacob said the Sanghom-KVK combine had started forming self-help groups (SHG) attached to farmers’ clubs in the rural reaches.
They supply vegetable seeds and saplings to households and the KVK provides technical support.
The church is forming SHGs, providing an opportunity to people belonging to all communities to participate in the ongoing green signature campaign, he said.
Fr. Jacob said the church had successfully carried out organic paddy farming in two acres of leased land in Wayanad and harvested 8,000 kg from there.
Now, organic vegetable cultivation was in progress in the same field, he said.
Organic farming worked in harmony with nature, as it involved using techniques to achieve good crop yields without harming the natural environment or the people who lived and worked in it, said C.P. Robert, KVK district coordinator.
Fr. Jacob said the Vikasana Sanghom had launched school-based organic vegetable farming and the farm attached to the SCS Higher Secondary School in Thiruvalla is its pilot project.
