Tamil Nadu: Farmers’ collectives to boost agri production in the making

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The agriculture department is in the process of forming farmers’ collectives --  ‘Krishikoottam’ -- to increase crop production. Forming 10,000 farmers’ collectives is part of the ‘Njangalum Krishiyilekku’ campaign of the state government to attract more people to farming. It also aims at launching organic farming on 10,000 hectares of land and encouraging the manufacturing of value-added products. 

As per the Krishkikoottam guidelines, each collective can have five to 25 members and cultivate on five cents to two acres of land. A ward can have more than one collective. The collective should have a president and secretary and should register with the Krishi Bhavan. Each ward should have an action committee headed by the ward member or councillor as its president and an agriculture officer or assistant agriculture officer as convener.

The department has trained resource persons from the state to LSG level for the programme. These trained candidates at the block panchayat level will coordinate the project with the support of assistant directors of the agriculture department. Each block will have eight to 12 resource persons. Ten model farms will be set up under each Krishi Bhavan to give first-hand experience to people who wish to undertake farming. A total of 10,760 model farms will be set across the state in the first phase.

The project is being implemented under a proper plan from the selection of crops to sales. Special focus will be given to value-added products from the crops. The project has a farm plan to support the farmers to cultivate crops that suit their farmland. This makes the project different from the previous ones that focused on particular crops.