KOZHIKODE: The pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the plans of Unesco-honoured artist Paris Mohan Kumar. The artist, who has been living in Wayanad among the tribal community for the past four decades, had an ambitious plan to commence a sales outlet of the organic agriculture produce cultivated by tribal people at his birth place in Mahe. Mohan Kumar not only found sufficient land near Mahe, at neighbouring Azhiyur, but also a warehouse to stock the produce.
“Thanks to Azhiyur grama panchayat officials, a space for selling the produce was provided on NH side near Kunjipally. We have an entire gamut of produce—from vegetables, custard and little millet to jaggery. All these were cultivated organically in the 200 acres of land in Wayanad in addition to products from Ooty and Nilgiris,” he said.
A company, ‘Kattil Agro’, was registered to open the sales before the dispatch of the first load from Wayanad. “But Covid came out of the blue and all the plans got stuck. The agricultural produce from Wayanad was cultivated by 80 Kurichiya families of Vythiri,” said the artist, who is now engrossed in pesticide-free farming and encouraging tribal people to attain food self-sufficiency.
According to Azhiyur grama panchayat secretary T Shahul Hameed, the idea was to promote pesticide- free agricultural products. “In Azhiyur, we had a spike in cancer patients and a paradigm shift from using pesticide-laced vegetables and fruits was the need of the hour. The agricultural land in Wayanad was visited by a team from Vadakara block panchayat office before leasing out the land,” he said.