At a rally that saw the participation of more than 2,000 farmers here on Tuesday, the Nilgiris Collector J. Innocent Divya said a three-year roadmap had been drawn up to turn farming across the district totally organic.
The rally was organised by the District Administration and the Horticulture Department to highlight the benefits of organic farming, and encourage farmers to give up the use of chemical fertilizers.
Ms. Divya said that if all the farmers in the district raised crops using organic farming methods, the value of their crop would be much higher, even if there was a slight decrease in the yield. The Collector also said that by adopting organic farming practices, input costs to grow crops would be reduced significantly, and this could mean higher profits for farmers.
The Collector also said that organic farming practices could reduce among farmers the risk of serious illnesses such as cancer, the prevalence of which was said to be high in the Nilgiris, especially among farmers.
A group of 45 farmers from the Nilgiris was among those who visited Sikkim recently, which is the first fully organic State in India. Horticulture Department officials said that the trip was organised to show the tremendous economic potential that organic farming held for farmers. The awareness rally began at the Udhagamandalam bus stand, passed through Commercial Road and ended at the Government Botanical Garden.
