MALAPPURAM: Moving beyond conventional banking, the Chungathara Service Cooperative Bank is bringing modern agricultural technology and essential farming services within easy reach of farmers in Nilambur and neighbouring areas, with its tissue culture laboratory emerging as a key initiative.
Established in 2016, the bank’s agricultural initiatives are designed to bring essential farming requirements under one roof, from high-quality planting material and fertilisers to agricultural equipment, machinery maintenance and a marketplace where farmers can sell their produce.
The tissue culture laboratory is the centrepiece of this initiative, producing disease-free, high-yielding banana saplings throughout the year at affordable rates. The facility offers farmers access to improved varieties that can help enhance productivity while reducing dependence on fertilisers.
“Mother cells required for tissue culture are carefully selected from superior, disease-free banana plants. These cells are cultivated in a specialised growth medium through different stages to produce saplings. As the saplings retain the characteristics of the mother plant, the laboratory can produce quality planting material on a large scale to meet farmers’ demands,” said bank president C D Sebastian.
The saplings are supplied to local farmers and buyers in neighbouring districts, besides large banana plantations in Tamil Nadu, he said. “Farmers are facing a severe crisis due to crop losses and climate change. Chungathara, one of the major agrarian regions in Malappuram, has witnessed the impact of such challenges over the years.
Through the tissue culture laboratory and other facilities, including the agricultural equipment outlet and supermarket, we have been able to offer farmers new opportunities and support their livelihoods.”
Bank secretary A T Sunitha said the laboratory was established with two objectives – to make quality planting material available to farmers at affordable prices and to extend the benefits of modern agricultural technology to rural communities.
The laboratory produces several Nendran varieties, including Manjeri (Dwarf), Mettupalayam, Aattu Nendran, Quintal, Thenni and Swarnamukhi. Other varieties available include Chengkadali, Poovan, Njalipoovan, Robusta, Grand Naine (G-9) and Poojakadali.
The facility also produces planting material for orchids, anthuriums, syngoniums and aloe vera, opening up opportunities for farmers to diversify beyond banana cultivation.
The bank’s wider agricultural network includes a nursery, farmer service centre, Agri Supermarket and Agrimart, providing farming inputs, fertilisers and equipment, along with machinery maintenance services.
By bringing these facilities together, the bank seeks to reduce the difficulties farmers face in accessing agricultural resources and encourage more people, particularly the youth, to take up farming.