The highlight of the farmers’ grievances day meeting held at the Collectorate here on Friday was the presence of two young farmers who have achieved major success with their commitment and hard work.
Both of them, who were given special permission by the District Collector K. Maharabushanam to share their success experience, said that farm activities will always prove a profitable one, thanks to proper and right planning.
M. Senthilkumar of Sathapadi in Attur block, said that due to his interest in agriculture, he did not continue after Plus Two.
He has been regularly raising turmeric, bitter guard, chillies, cotton, and cholam in about 15 acres of land in the village.
As water scarcity always threatened the farm activities, he decided to switch over to drip irrigation system. Initially he tried this project on his own, despite higher cost involved in it.
Later at the advice of the Horticulture Department, he formed Sathapadi Uzhavargal Thulliya Pannaiyakkuzhu, comprising about 20 members.
This enabled in getting government subsidy for the drip irrigation project since 2009 onwards.
“I fully concentrated on this project, due to which my family started earning profit every year. I purchased a four-wheeler a few years ago and planning to go for one more shortly,” he said amidst thumping of desks by the farmers present at the jam-packed hall.
R.P. Rajendran, PA to the Collector (agriculture), commending the initiative of Mr. Senthilkumar said that he has prepared a project report on the success of drip irrigation project with pictures and the details of government schemes.
Besides, the young farmer has also maintain records of the expenditure involved in the project and revenue he managed to prove that agriculture is a successful venture.
Madeswaran, another progressive farmer of Salem block, running Pennycuick Farmers’ Club (named after the British Engineer who constructed Mullaperiyar), said adopting drip irrigation system immensely helped him in raising the horticulture crops such as cauliflower, carrot, beetroot, in his farm in the outskirts of the city.
Senior farmers’ representatives A. R. Shanmugam of Panaimarathupatti, and S. Govindarajan of Ammanpalayam and C. Vaiyapuri, president of United Farmers Association - Tamil Nadu, commended both the youngsters for sticking to agriculture at a time when the youths belonging to farmers families were switching over to other trades, and proving that agriculture was still a profitable occupation.
Mr. Shanmugam suggested that they could be honoured suitably at the Republic Day celebrations.
