Lack of information on farming and pesticide use at the grassroots level is the main reason for the overuse of pesticide for cardamom and other crops, as per the rural participatory appraisal (RPA) conducted here by the students of Kerala Agriculture University's College of Agriculture, Vellayani.
The students were here as part of a 10-day village stay programme, the last leg of the rural agricultural work experience (RAWE) for final-year students. As many as 97 students along with the faculty are camping here to get grassroots experience of farming and share their knowledge with farmers.
As most of the young farmers blindly continue the practices adopted by old farmers, it often leads to many faux pas in the use of pest control measures. The farmers are hardly aware of organic pest control measures and use pesticides as per the advice given by staff at pesticide outlets. This results in the use of outdated and highly dangerous pesticides for controlling pests which in turn lead to destruction of farm-friendly insects and depletion of fertile soil.
“The farmers are ready to heed the advice of experts on pest control, though such interactions hardly take place,” said V.K. Mubashina, a student.
The main crops cultivated in the villages are cardamom, nutmeg, pepper, coffee and cocoa. All the wards of the Konnathady grama panchayat, which was taken for the sample survey, were visited by the team members and they held discussions with the farmers. It was also found that the paddy fields were largely converted for banana, cocoa and bitter gourd cultivation. The vegetables were sprinkled with high dose of pesticides on the suggestions given by theie peers and staff of pesticide outlets.
According to H. Haritha, village farmers never go for soil testing due to ignorance about such facility. As a result, micro nutrients were never added to the soil, resulting in crop losses. The farmers were also given training on mushroom cultivation, honey value addition and pesticide residue management.
According to RAWE village stay co-ordinator Allan Thomas, the camp will help in reducing the distance between the farming community and the officials. He said the RPA will be handed over to the authorities for preparing a management plan.