We Farm, an organisation of farmers in the Western Ghats region, has demanded that the State government conduct a social audit on all the afforestation programmes and funds spent on them over the past ten years. In a convention organised on the occasion of World Environment Day in Kozhikode on Monday, it said fraudulent practices were going on in the name of afforestation.
Patron of the Western Ghats Environment Protection Farmers’ Foundation and Thamarasseri Bishop Remigios Inchananiyil, who inaugurated the convention, slammed governments for portraying the farmer community as enemies of the Western Ghats while it was officials and rich mining mafia that actually damaged the environment in the ghats.
The organisation has demanded a review of the nurseries that supply saplings for afforestation and suggested to employ farmers’ associations in panchayats bordering forests to produce good quality saplings. It also offered help in cultivating fruit-bearing trees in forests for animals.
‘Take over quarries’
Functioning of all large quarries in the Western Ghats should be stopped and action should be taken against those who use more space than allotted.
A commission should study the ecological impact of the quarries and the government should take over them, the farmers demanded.
They said that wild animal attacks was the biggest problem they faced and asked the government to set up fences on borders so that animals would not enter into agricultural land.
Financial support
They demanded a complete ban on landfilling of paddy fields and financial support for farmers who engaged in paddy cultivation.
Adviser of We Farm George Theendappara presided over the programme. Convener of Western Ghats Protection Committee Chacko Kalamparambil presented the topic.
