They conducted a participatory appraisal after visiting farmers’ houses in the Sulthan Bathery grama panchayat and an assessment of the resources of the community.
These 96 final-semester B.Sc. Agriculture (Honours) students, including 21 boys and 75 girls, of the College of Agriculture, Vellayani, under the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), are attending Polika-2014. The 10-day village stay programme being organised by the CAV, in association with the Sulthan Bathery grama panchayat, enables the students to learn about various issues of the farming community in Wayanad district.
The programme aims at providing the students a first-hand experience of the grassroots-level issues of the farmers and training them to address those issues effectively, A. Anilkumar, professor in the Department of Agriculture (Extension), KAU, told
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A.J. Al Unais, a final-semester student and publicity convener of the programme, said various programmes, including house visits, seminars, classes by experts, and exhibition, were being held in connection with the programme.
O.R. Unnikuttan a student of the CAV said, dearth of labourers, climatic vagaries, spread of crop diseases, lack of interest in agriculture among the youth owing to low returns, sharp decline in area of cultivation after the intervention of the real-estate mafia, lack of modern technology, escalating man-animal conflicts, and marketing issues were the major concerns of the farming community.
“When we visited tribal colonies in the area, tribeswomen complained about the alcohol addiction of the men in their colonies,” V.G. Dhanya, another student, said.
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Lack of drinking water, poor sanitation facilities, and malnutrition among the tribal children were the other issues faced by the community, she said.
The issues identified by the students would be handed over to the district panchayat authorities at the valedictory of the programme to be held on Wednesday, Dr. Anilkumar said.