VIZIANAGARAM: This retired school teacher of Vizianagaram is on a mission to promote natural farming by turning villages into bio-villages, which are dependent on agriculture without using pesticides and fertilisers. Dollu Pari Naidu of Thotapalli village in Garugubilli mandal of Vizianagaram district has established at least 100 bio-villages, including the first in the State, through his Justified Action and Training for Tribal Upliftment (JATTU) Trust.
He has authored 32 books on the practice and propagation of natural farming and made a feature film, Amrutha Bhoomi, with natural farming as its central theme. The movie is yet to be released. Pari Naidu had taken voluntary retirement from his services in 1998. He established the JATTU Trust to work with Jatapu, Savara, Gadaba and Kondadora tribes and other backward classes in the district.
He has been practising and promoting natural farming with the help of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Rythu Sadhikara Samstha and Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI) since 1998.
The retired teacher has conducted hundreds of awareness programmes on natural farming. He has been giving training to farmers on making organic manure like vermicompost and Jeevamrutham. He has established Prakruthi Aadidevobhava Campus, which showcases crop models, preparation of organic manure, food processing units in Thotapalli village. Pari Naidu has introduced the Annapoorna crop model, which ensures food security to marginal and tenant farmers. It aims to alleviate hunger and the farmers get an annual income of Rs 50,000 to Rs1,00,000. He has also introduced ‘school -to-field programme’ for children to create awareness on natural farming. He has been distributing agriculture machinery like seeders, weeders and cutters through the JATTU Trust.
Kondabhariki village in Kurupam mandal is the first bio-village in the State. As many as 93 villages have been announced as bio-village in the district and the remaining seven will be announced by Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan on April 21. As many as 37,699 farmers have implemented natural farming on at least 41,438 acres across the district.
Besides these, the JATTU founder has made a number of short films and documentaries to educate farmers about natural farming. He made Amrutha Bhoomi with the support of the Rythu Sadhikara Samstha. Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan released the audio and video songs of Amrutha Bhoomi, recently.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to release the film in the next few days. Popular folk singer of north Andhra, late Vangapandu Prasada Rao wrote as many as 14 songs for the film.
Speaking to TNIE, Pari Naidu said: “I have seen pathetic conditions of tribal farmers when I was on a deputation as OSD for Parvathipuram ITDA. I decided to work for the upliftment of the tribals and established JATTU Trust.”“We are working with an aim to make two mandals — GL Puram and Kurupam, with nearly 456 villages — as bio-mandals,’’ he said. “I feel that a pollution-free society is the greatest gift that we can give to our next generations,” Pari Naidu added.