Agriculture used to be an expensive proposition for P. Chokkalingam, who belongs to a tribal community living at Singapathi settlement located inside the Reserve Forest at Booluvampatti range of Coimbatore district.
Hiring a tractor for his lands meant an expenditure of Rs. 700 for every hour. And he needed three hours for just one acre. Apart from this, other expenses for seeds, fertilizer, and drivers meant he had no option but to turn to loan sharks who lent at usurious rates.
Not any more. Now, he and 247 others farmers in the seven tribal settlements in Booluvampatti range spend just Rs. 100 an hour to hire a tractor, thanks to ‘Pudhu Vazhvu’ scheme of the State government.
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“We have a committee in all villages that receives financial assistance through this scheme to modernise agriculture by purchasing modern implements. We have also set up a vermicompost unit,” says Mr. Chokkalingam, who also doubles up as a community organiser. Each village committee has Rs. 6 lakh to fund such activities besides an equal sum that is used for giving out low-interest loans. Singapathi alone has around 58 acres of farming land, filling with grain, urad dal, horse gram, flowers and vegetables.
Water pipelines
Even though agriculture has been going on for generations in this region, it was subject to the vagaries of nature. For, water was supplied through canals that were clogged with sand and leaves. Now, the Forest Department has laid pipelines from the Kovai Courtallam for both farming and drinking purposes.
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However, a forest guard says, elephants often damage these pipelines. As such, it was a constant exercise to attend to the damage in places that are often infested with leeches or were very remote.
Forest Department provides water for drinking, farming in remote tribal settlements