Plea to transform federation into ‘producer company’

June 19, 2016 12:00 am | Updated October 18, 2016 02:39 pm IST - Thoothukudi:

To give a boost to the farmers’ club in Ottapidaram block in Thoothukudi district, like-minded farmers have sought help from the authorities to provide financial support.

The farmers of this club, earlier named as ‘Veerapandia Kattabomman’ in 2006 at Athanoor village, had been mostly adopting organic farming methods to raise their crops. These farmers had been relying mainly on millets and pulses.

With active and collective participation of more farmers, this club was energized to form a federation called “Ottapidaram Vattara Vivasaya Vilai Porul Urpathiiyalargal Kootamaippu(Ottapidaram Block Farm Producers Federation)” in 2012.

Farmers were landless and economically backward in Ottapidaram, where rainfed cultivation remained the mainstay.

To financially aid these farmers with credit facilities and also to protect this traditional way of agriculture besides guarding them with insurance cover, this federation should be revived with a new status by transforming it to a ‘producer company,’ S. Mallusamy, secretary of this federation told The Hindu here on Saturday.

The concept behind this method of farming is ‘Iniyellam Iyarkaiye,’ he said. Organic farming practices help in soil and water conservation and to reduce pollution, he said.

Once this farm producer’s federation was transformed into a ‘producer company,’ it could be registered under the Companies Act.

Since the inception of this club in 2006, the progressive farmers had been largely supported and guided by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Mr. Mallusamy added.

Hence, a representation was made to the Chief General Manager of NABARD, S. Nagoor Ali Jinnah, seeking support to transform this farmers’ federation into a producer company.

Referring to performance of this club, he said Activity Based Groups (ABG) for maize cultivation in this block was introduced by NABARD in November 2009 with hundred Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) comprising 500 farmers, who played a pivotal role in increasing productivity.

Currently, the farmers’ federation comprised 864 farmers and more farmers were expected to join in the coming days, he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.