The Hindu : `SHGs should promote natural farming'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 26, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Thanjavur

`SHGs should promote natural farming'

By Our Staff Reporter

THANJAVUR, JAN. 25 . Women self-help groups (SHGs) can play an important role in promoting natural farming and the cultivation of medicinal plants, according to T.K. Krishnamurthy, Principal, Sri AVVM Pushpam College, Poondi.

He was speaking after inaugurating a seminar held here on Saturday on natural farming and the cultivation of medicinal plants, organised by the Botany and Microbiology department of the college.

He said farmers should set aside certain portions of their land for cultivating medicinal plants.

Herbs such as Ocumum Sanctum (`thulasi') had medicinal values. The extract Ocumum Sanctum could cure cold and act an anti-allergic drug. A similar anti-allergic extract could be derived from chemicals such as tar, but it was not so efficacious as the Ocumum extract.

Medicinal plants, he said, could be cultivated as an alternate to paddy as water scarcity had hit paddy cultivation in the delta districts. Moreover, the country's climate was suitable for the cultivation of medicinal plants.

B. Chandrasekaran, Director, Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai, said it was estimated 15,000 flora and 40,000 fauna may become extinct in the next 15 years. Hence, there was a need to promote natural farming, to protect the environment.

G. Nammalvar, president, ThamizhinaVazhviyal Iyakkam, said that in the name of green revolution, enough "poison" had been added in the soil, through the use of chemical fertilizer. Therefore, natural farming should be promoted to preserve the soil.

K. Natarajan spoke about the importance of `panchakavya'.

Medicinal plants and bio-fertilizer were put on display.

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