Farmers to document plants in Mundaje village

MANGALURU: A group of progressive farmers will document plants of Mundaje village, which is about 60 km from here.
This is probably a first-of-its-kind initiative by the people of a village. Nethravathi and Mrityunjaya rivers are the lifelines of this village in Belthangady taluk, that is spread over an area of 1,460.8 ha. As a first step, a meeting was held at Shri Dattakripa, the house of Gajanana Vaze, a farmer, former science teacher and a retired lieutenant of the Territorial Army.
Vaze told TOI, “Before the pandemic could hit us, we had formed a team of water warriors who would visit homes and enlighten people about rainwater harvesting. In two years, we visited nearly 45 houses, and of them, about 14 houses have implemented various water replenishing measures. Since it is not advisable to visit houses amidst the pandemic, a few like-minded people came together, and we decided to start work on documentation of local plants,” he said.
Ganesh Shendye, a botany lecturer from SDM College, Ujire, is guiding the project, that is supported by retired ACF Gajanana Bhat.
“Fieldwork will begin in August. The project will also be discussed with the forest department, since they maintain a people’s biodiversity register. We will be undertaking digital documentation of each plant species. We have identified traditional medicine experts who use herbal plants. We will record videos of their statements, on the benefits and uses of particular plant species. All plant species will be photographed and documented. We will be starting the process before the end of the monsoon, because some plants are found only during the monsoon,” Gajanana said.
The team will be reaching out to cooperative societies, and also bring this initiative to the notice of the gram panchayat and education institutions, so that anyone interested can join in. They are hopeful of bringing out the book by the end of January next year.