The Department of Horticulture is all set to adopt select three villages in the district on a pilot basis to promote organic cultivation of mangoes.
Deputy Director of Horticulture Chitra Devi said that Aathoor and Rudrapalayam villages under Madathukulam block and Jallipatti under Udumalpet block have been selected for the project.
Farmers raising mangoes in a total expanse of over 100 acres in the villages will be helped to adopt organic farming practices.
The farmers will identify lead resource persons for their respective areas and they will be trained by the department officials on various aspects of organic cultivation.
“The training will cover raising of seedlings in nursery, soil sample collection, setting up of community infrastructure to prepare bio-pesticides and bio-fertilisers, and post-harvest management like packaging and branding of products, officials said. The resource persons will then train the farmers involved in the project.
The expenditure to be incurred for training and exposure visits to research stations/progressive farms, and expenses for soil testing as well as maintenance of computer data on various aspects of farming, among others, will be met from the corpus created under a government-sponsored scheme that promotes traditional farming.
Ms. Devi said that organically produced mangoes would enhance the income of farmers and pave way for natural resource mobilisation required to produce organic inputs.
Catalyst for other farmers
“The project will act as a catalyst for farmers in the nearby villages to adopt organic farming practices”, she said.
Organically produced mangoes would enhance
the income of farmers
Chitra Devi,
Deputy Director of Horticulture
‘Organically produced mangoes would enhance
the income of farmers’
