Farmers take out rally to make Nilgiris organic dist

Udhagamandam: More than 5,000 farmers from across the district took out a rally from Ooty main bus stand to the government botanical garden here on Tuesday with ‘organic district’ as their motto.
The 3.5-km rally, organized by the Nilgiris horticulture department in association with the Nilgiris horticulture organic farmers’ association (THOFA), was flagged off by collector J Innocent Divya. The collector, who also participated in the rally, said she was surprised by the huge turnout in support of organic farming.
“Several farmers’ groups in the district attended the rally. It is a welcome sign. This shows half of the job is already done. The organic initiative has become a people’s movement now,” the collector told TOI. She also addressed the farmers at the end of the rally.
Shiva Subramaniam Samraj, joint director, horticulture department, told TOI, “In a first, Ooty witnessed a huge gathering of farmers in support of organic farming. This is an initiative taken by the department six months ago with the guidance from the district administration.”
A seminar will also be conducted in this connection soon. “We have conducted a meeting with the dealers and distributors of fertilizers and pesticides in the district and asked them not to sell ‘red-chemicals’ in the district,” said Samraj. “It is a gradual process. The dealers have been requested not to procure ‘red-chemicals’ further. The prevailing stock could be sold.”
The horticulture department is preparing to bring out a policy in this regard. “Once the task is over, a proposal would be sent to the government seeking an order to do only organic farming in the district,” he said.