Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), the second largest tractor manufacturer in India, on Wednesday launched “Be a Farm Dost” initiative in the city to recognise the contributions of farmers.
The initiative encourages people, especially students, to recognise and respect the contribution of farmers and thank them for their efforts. It seeks to inspire participants to feel the earth, experience the joy of growing and harvesting a crop and in the process, empathise with the farmer.
TAFE plans to reach out to 12,000 schoolchildren in the city by distributing “Farm Dost” kits containing seed packets, cocopeat, a friendship agreement, an instruction manual and letters to the students and their parents, requesting their child’s involvement in this initiative.
Participating students are expected to click pictures of the farming process at regular intervals and post it on the www.FarmDost.com website. These pictures will later be promoted on the Facebook page, facebook.com/FarmDost.
The top three students from each city will be awarded with Best Farm Dost student awards. TAFE would give away Thank You Farmers awards to encourage students to meet, interact, and thank farmers in an innovative way.
The top three schools of each city with the highest participation percentage for ‘Best Farm Dost student award’ and ‘Thank You Farmers’ student awards, will be honoured with the ‘Best Farm Dost School Award’ and ‘Thank You Farmers School Award’ for the respective cities.
The top school with the highest participation percentage in the two awards together would be crowned with the Champion of Champions Award.
On Wednesday, the initiative was launched at St. John’s Vestry Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in the city.
The initiative would be launched in Coimbatore, Madurai, and Chennai soon, TAFE representatives said.