District Collector V. Vishnu fulfilled a promise he had made during the farmers’ grievances redressal meet held here recently by opening an exclusive outlet for selling organic farm produces near St. John’s College, Palayamkottai on Friday.
The public can buy organically grown traditional rice varietiessuch as ‘Kattuyaanam’, ‘Karuppu kavuni’, ‘Poongaar’, ‘Kottaaram’, ‘Samba’, ‘Author Kichchadi Samba’ and ‘Thooya Malli’, maize, gram varieties, groundnut, pepper, banana, lemon, acid lime, mango, jack fruit, guava, pomegranate, custard apple, blue berry, sapota, papaya, brinjal, tomato, bhendi, snake gourd, bitter gourd, ridge gourd and a range of greens from this outlet.
Inaugurating the outlet in the presence of Corporation Commissioner B. Vishnu Chandran and Palayamkottai MLA M. Abdul Wahab, Mr. Vishnu said the shop, after obtaining the mandatory ‘organic certification’, had been opened and farmers selling their produce through this outlet would not use chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides etc. for increasing their yield. Though the application of chemical fertilizers would significantly boost the yield, the farmers, considering the wellbeing of the consumers, were strictly using only organic farming techniques, he added.
While 2-year organic certification is being given for one-year crops, perennial crops are given 3-year certification by the Department of Tamil Nadu Organic Certification after a series of inspections. After the end of the period, the certification gets renewed after due inspection of the fields.
In Tirunelveli district, crops being cultivated on 2,891 acres have been given organic certification. Of this, 1,277 acres belong to 22 individual farmers and the remaining areas are owned by five commercial organizations and Kaani Tribal Group.
“For the first time in Tamil Nadu, the Kaani Tribal Farmers’ Group of Papanasam has bagged organic certification for 40 products being produced by them in the Western Ghats including tapioca, jack fruit, lemon, pepper, cashew, forest honey, gooseberry etc. Their produces are being sold through an exclusive outlet established near Anna Stadium, Palayamkottai. The public should support overwhelmingly the organic products being grown and marketed by our farmers so that more number of agriculturists will choose organic farming practices,” Mr. Vishnu said.
Joint Director of Agriculture R. Gajendra Pandian, Deputy Director Muruganandham, Deputy Director of Horticulture Balakrishnan and Assistant Director of Organic Certification Suresh were present.
