NAMAKKAL: As the recent heavy rains would have affected soil fertility, organic farmers have appealed to the State government to raise awareness on practices to be followed post rains, so as to prepare the soil for the next season, minimize fertiliser use, and improve yield.
Unprecedented rain this year would have caused the topsoil to runoff and depleted nutrient content, farmers said. Tamil Nadu Banana Growers Federation secretary G Ajeethan advised farmers to go for leguminous crops as they observe nitrogen from the atmosphere and preserve it. by doing so, they will not need fertilisers in large quantities. The government should also promote this, he added.
Emphasizing the need to increase the use of bi0-fertilisers, Ajeethan said awareness should be created among farmers as a majority of them did not know these techniques.
P Saravanan, an organic farmer from Ariyagoundampatti, sought the government to give a special status to bio-fertilizers and requested Agriculture and Horticulture officials to promote their use.
A senior Agriculture department official said they were conducting awareness programmes under National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP) until the State government recently instructed Agriculture and Horticulture officials to carry out all such works under Kalaignar All Village Integrated Agriculture Development Programme.
"During the previous rainy season, we identified a few areas and initiated the soil enrichment drive there. For the present season, we are yet to receive guidelines under the new programme," he added.