IDUKKI: Until two years ago, Muthuraj, a tribal farmer in Idukki’s Vattavada, used to sell vegetables to intermediaries at a price (which is low most of the time) the buyers would declare at the spot.
Of the hard-earned money, a major portion had to be used to pay off the middleman, from whom he owed seeds and fertilizers during the planting season.
The remaining amount, after covering his commission and transportation cost, was not enough to make both ends meet.
Getting caught in this debt-intermediary cycle was not just Muthuraj’s problem. Hundreds of tribal families in the village faced the same issue.
But ever since the Department for the Development of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, jointly with the Centre for Management Studies (CMD), launched the ‘Haritha Reshmi’ project, the tribal families have started earning a decent income from vegetable cultivation without being exploited by intermediaries.
As per the data available with the CMD officials, the department is expecting a yield of Rs 2.63 crore from vegetable cultivation this season from the three tribal settlements - Swamiyarakkudi, Koodallarkuy and Valsapettikudy - in Vattavada, where the department has launched the project on nearly 350 acres of land.
“Though the tribal farmers in Idukki own a large area of land under the Forest Rights Act, outsiders are exploiting them by taking the land on lease. Additionally, middlemen providing a paltry sum for the produce had turned into a major issue affecting the livelihood of hundreds of ryots. It was to address these issues that the government launched the ‘Haritha Reshmi’ project in 2021,” T G Anil, state coordinator of the project, told TNIE.
As many as 1,000 farmers under 27 self-help groups in Idukki were made beneficiaries of the Rs 2-crore project. Apart from Idukki, the project was also launched in Wayanad with 3,000 beneficiaries.
“Under the project, seeds and fertilizers are being provided to the farmers free of cost. In addition to this, free guidance in scientific cultivation, including soil testing, climatic conditions and other services, are also being given to them,” he said.
Anil said the type of seeds distributed and the time at which they were given was done completely according to the farmers’ discretion. “’ Seeds of the Kufri Jyothy potato variety, the most widely cultivated crop in Vattavada, were brought from Mettupalayam in Tamil Nadu and given to the farmers,” he said.
When the department supplied 64,000 kg of potato seeds last year in Vattavada, the yield was 2.56 lakh kg, even when the climatic condition was not favourable.
The department, however, is expecting a production boom this year as the climate has been kind to the crops.
“As the harvest begins in September, we have convened a meeting with all the wholesale traders to supply the produce. We have even spoken with the traders in Tamil Nadu. The vegetables will be sold to the trader who offers the best price,” he said.
The department has plans to set up marketing stalls in major locations and mobile vegetable vans to sell the produce. “To help farmers get out of the debt-intermediary loop, we have plans to convene Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) to avoid exploitation by middlemen,” an official with the Haritha Reshmi project said.