As many as 10,000 seed balls were readied on the grounds of St. Joseph's College on Wednesday by students of Business Administration department for scattering in the countryside as part of their extension activity.
Roping in school pupils in the campus, the business administration students sat around mounds of mixture of red soil, clay and vermi compost to make balls inserting pungan, vembu, poovarasu, ayal vaagai, yaanai gundu mani, sarkondrai and other seeds of native species that the students had themselves collected various parts of the district.
SHEPHERD (Science and Humanities for People's Development), the college’s extension wing, had mobilised 35,000 seeds. Seed balls will be made in subsequent phases with the remaining stock, the organisers said.
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Increasing green cover, enlarging diversity of flora, extending size of forests, ensuring regularity of monsoons, according a thrust on farming and restoration of natural resources constituted the objective of the exercise involving a few hundred students.
Students have been instructed to disperse the seed balls in their villages to make them soak in wet soil after a spell of rain during the monsoon season. Hostel students going home for weekends by buses and trains have been told to disperse the seed balls en route, Rev. Fr. Berchmans, Director, Extension Department - SHEPHERD, said.
The activity was inaugurated by college secretary Antony Pappuraj in the presence of Principal Rev. Fr. Andrew, and Thanjavur-based environmentalist Thangasamy Thiruppathy.
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Mr. Thangasamy highlighted the importance of nature farming in his interaction with students.