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Farmers show their research prowess

Ideas sprout: A volunteer showing a device for water management in coconut cultivation developed by a farmer at the Farmers’ Science Congress at Panniyur in Kannur on Monday.

PANNIYUR (KANNUR): Their ingenuity and innovation, born from their practical and informal experiments, hardly draw much public attention as these informal ‘researchers’ are confined to the urgency of their local needs and conditions. But, for the first time an initiative has been taken to popularise the innovative inventions of farmers and to spread their knowledge.

The first ever Farmers’ Science Congress that began here on Monday saw dozens of innovative farmers displaying their inventions and experiments before an audience that comprised both farmers and agricultural scientists. The two-day congress being organised by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra at the Kerala Agricultural University’s Pepper Research Station here serves as a platform for resourceful farmers to display their new farming ideas, methods or devices.

The innovations on display at the congress include a simple device for water management in coconut farming, a portable box for vermi-composting household waste, an electronic and mechanical rat trap, a climate-controlled custom-made shed for mushroom cultivation, a digital incubator for hatching, a modified curing house for drying cardamom and a mechanism for harvesting pepper.

There was a farmer who developed a bird pepper variety through selection, another who produced coconut leaf compost using rabbit excreta and a third one who made wine from jackfruit. The farmers who presented their inventions and innovations at the congress took questions from curious farmers and scientists.

Inaugurating the congress, KAU Vice-Chancellor K.R. Viswambharan said that the two-day event was intended to offer a forum for ‘farmer researchers’ to present their findings and inventions before farmers, scientists and extension functionaries. He said that the knowledge of agricultural scientists had to be combined with the practical experience of the farmer community.

Observing that traditional agricultural practices and culture were inter-linked, he said new plant diseases had something to do with the abandoning of tradition and culture. The science congress was meant to find out innovative experiments and practices hitherto unknown to the public.

Mr. Viswambharan added that farmers toiling with the soil alone could face challenges facing the environment. He said that the indigenous knowledge of farmers formed the basis of farm science. Agricultural scientists could not afford to distance themselves from the farming community, he noted.

KAU director of extension M.K. Sheela, director of research D. Alexander, Syndicate Bank regional manager K.P. Muraleedharan, NABARD assistant general manager P.A. Premkumar, Regional Agricultural Research Station associate director P.C. Balakrishnan, Pepper Research Station head K.P. Mammooty and T.J. James of the National Innovation Foundation were among those who were present at the function.

The congress would conclude on Tuesday. Agricultural Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran would inaugurate the valedictory session. Agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan would deliver the keynote address.

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