Farmers from Dharwad, Belgaum, Gadag and surrounding districts may soon form a cooperative association to be eligible to export commercial crops such as chilli.
Their proposal comes after their recent visit to Sri Lanka and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to find out about farm practices there and the market in those countries for agricultural produce from here.
Vice-president of the Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Andanappa Sajjanar and honorary joint secretary of KCCI C.N. Karikatti spoke to presspersons here on Thursday about the visit of the 42-member group of farmers.
Mr. Karikatti said they had learnt about a potential market for chilli in Sri Lanka and the possibility of developing palm groves in north Karnataka.
“While in Colombo, we were invited to the Sri Lanka Expo scheduled for March 2012 and we invited them for Incomex-2012 in Hubli in February,” he said.
Products in demand
Raghunathgouda Kempalinganagoudar said several importers in Colombo spoke of the demand for chilli, onion and mango pulp.
“Farmers are keen to form a group so that we will be able to supply chilli in bulk to Sri Lankan importers. We will also seek help from the Export Promotion Cell of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, in this regard,” he said.
Farmers were also interested in developing palm groves along the streams in the region. They interacted with a private firm in Davangere, which expressed willingness to procure the crop for producing palm oil, Mr. Kempalinganagoudar said, and added, “We plan to take it up on a trial basis.”
Flowering plants
Mahadevappa Yadavannavar said that after their visit they had developed an interest in cultivating flowering plants that did not require much care but could be grown in mango orchards.
Farmers Kadayya Hiremath, Basanagouda Naganagoudar, Veeranagouda Kenchanagoudar and Anasuya Mallappa Kadetoatad shared their experiences.
Consultant Achyut Kumar Tiwari, who was earlier associated with the export promotion cell of KCCI, said the fact that the farmers had spent from their own pockets to go on the tour showed that they were genuinely interested in learning the best practices in other countries.
