It was a festival with a difference at Parappana on the outskirts of Palakkad on Sunday as a host of techies descended on the sleepy village to join the local farmers in transplanting paddy seedlings.
To add colour, contests such as mud football, fishing, swimming and mud athletics were also organised amid the transplanting. Veteran farmers were honoured at a meeting, with the entire gathering listening to their recollections.
The festival was organised by a group of experts to initiate group-farming of paddy in Kerala.
K. Suresh, a former techie with Infosys, said he and his friends launched a start-up, Farmers’ Collective, last year to promote cultivation of pesticide-free paddy using scientific agricultural practices in select parts of the State, including Parappana, a stone’s throw from littérateur O.V. Vijayan’s village Thasrak, which he transformed into Kazhak.
No organic tag
“Last year, we made a humble beginning in Mankurissi in Palakkad, cultivating 20 acres. Now, it is being extended to Parappana and several other places, including the Kole wetlands of Thrissur. The aim is to help farmers approach paddy cultivation with confidence. We will not use pesticides but the rice will not be classified as organic,” Mr. Suresh explained.
Jafar Kondotty, coordinator of the Collective, said the experiment in the village was in collaboration with a dozen local farmers.
“Our start-up will find agriculture-loving entrepreneurs to meet the entire cost of cultivation. The farmers need not spend on farming,” he said.
Last year, the crop was sold in various IT parks. Of the revenue, the farmers get 60% and the Collective, 20%. The remaining 20% is set aside as next year’s capital.