KOCHI: Manarcadu Social Service Society (MASS), a collective of more than 5,000 organic farmers, have come up with a novel initiative to revive the farming sector of Idukki district, which was severly damaged by the mid-August deluge.
Named Earth Builders, the initiative seeks to revive the agriculture sector of Idukki by promoting organic farming over a period of three years ending 2021.MASS president Bijumon Kurian told reporters here on Saturday that the project will be launched at Idinjamala in Idukki district on November 26.
“Around two lakh saplings of herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, coffee, and cocoa will be distributed in the coming days. On the launching day, the farmers will be planting these saplings. In the next three years’ time period, more than 10 lakh saplings will be distributed to the farmers. The project has been designed to help the farmers in Idukki slowly rebuild their farms and livelihood they have lost to landslides and floods,” he said.
The saplings will be generated from nine poly houses operating in Idukki district. The yield from the saplings will be procured by MASS. “The farmers will be given a high price as organic crops are very popular across the globe. The project will cover one lakh families across 52 panchayats and two municipalities of Idukki district,” he said.A rough estimate by MASS puts the crop loss in Idukki at Rs 210 million. As many as 1418 farmers were affected. “Each farmer has incurred a loss of more than Rs 2 lakhs. Apart from the crop loss, the farmers also lost their houses. As many as 230 houses in Idukki were fully destroyed and 242 were partially destroyed,” a MASS officer-bearer said.
MASS also has approached the tourism department to promote village and farm tourism in Idukki district.
MASS will facilitate 100 e-sevamahila booths which will be operated by computer-literate women in each village of Idukki district. e-Sevamahila will help the farmers legitimise their documents, apply online application for receiving government aids, etc.