PATHANAMTHITTA: For most farmers in forest fringes, elephants are a menace as they end up destroying crops. But a group of farmers residing in a forest area in Pathanamthitta have a reason to cheer for elephants. They are earning a decent revenue by cultivating fodder grass for the giants. As many as 35 people, including 23 women, from Manneera -- a village in Thannithode panchayat -- are growing fodder grass in a farm spread over 12.5 hectares under the Konni Forest Division.
On an average, farmers belonging to the Manneera Vana Samrakshana Samithi (VSS) produce 1,250kg of grass daily and are able to supply fodder for at least ten elephants. While their chief customers are the five jumbos at the Konni elephant camp, owners of the majestic animals in other parts of Pathanamthitta and the neighbouring districts of Alappuzha and Kottayam too source fodder from Manneera.
The project was launched by the forest department in 2013 to ensure a better income for villagers residing in the forest area. VSS was set up as a participatory forest management scheme with the dual aim of protecting forests with the help of forest dwellers and to provide them a steady income. The farmers are members of two self-help groups (SHGs) -- Vanajyothi and Kananashree -- functioning under VSS. They cultivate a grass variety known as Coimbatore 3 (CO3).
“We have planted 2.25 lakh saplings of CO3,” says Sasikala S, secretary of Vanajyothi.“Though the demand is high for our grass during summer, we are unable to meet it.”She says the grass can be harvested 60 days after one sapling is planted. “We can harvest grass from one plant for three years,” she says. They begin work at the farm each day at 7.30am and continue up to 11.30am. In the afternoon, they tend to the field from 3pm to 5.30pm.
“We water saplings using water drawn from four ponds located near the farm,” says Johnykutty, a farmer.“We use cow dung as the manure for our plants. We cannot use chemical fertilisers as elephants can easily detect that and they will not eat such grass,” he says.
Mini Sukesan, secretary of Kananashree SHG, says the farmers get Rs 4.5 per kg of fodder grass.
“We produce 1,250 kg of grass each day. As we have a vehicle, we provide spot delivery too. Every day, we earn Rs 700 from this. We can also do other work and attend to our personal matters during free time. Besides the Konni elephant camp, we are providing grass to private elephant owners in Alappuzha, Kottayam and other parts of Pathanamthitta,” she says.
Remya G R, beat forest officer and also the secretary of Manneera VSS, says the cultivation was started to use the barren land below the high-tension KSEB power lines. “We are delighted to see that grass cultivation is providing good revenue to the farmers,” she says.