Udhagamandalam: To create awareness among people and farmers on organic products, a Nilgiris-based NGO on Friday inaugurated a three-day show at Recourse Centre for Tribal Cultural (RCTC) in Ooty. The show displays organically grown products as well as discusses about benefits of traditional farming methods.
The Earth Trust has roped in about 80 farmers from the district to grow organic products for the past few years and conducting weekly fair at Coonoor and Ooty. “Nowadays, pesticides, chemical fertiliser are largely used in cultivation. For instance, growing carrot uses chemicals right from seeding to washing the produce after harvest. Besides, farmers fall prey to banned pesticides that come in different names to markets,” said Nimmi John, project director of the trust.
The NGO monitors the cultivation process and helps the farmers in marketing too, she said. “The farmers get 90% of the sale proceedings and the money is directly credited to their bank account every 15 days,” she added.
R Meera, health trainer attached to the trust said, “We conduct health programmes in villages to create awareness about traditional food. Till now, we have covered some 60 villages in the district.”
At the show, a farmer, Prakash, from Mel Kouhatty displays carnation flowers which he claimed to be grown organically. “It is fulfilling to do organic farming. I organically cultivate strawberry too. And the Earth Trust is helping us through the entire process,” he said.
