Tamil Nadu   

Two villages live out CS’ dream

— Photo: R. Ragu

A turnaround: The staff members of the National Agro Foundation examine a crop of turnips on the model farm of the National Agro Foundation at Illedu in Kancheepuram district.

CHENNAI: The taste of success is the crunch of a carrot between your teeth; carrot grown on once-fallow land. It is also the six extra bags of rice a paddy field yields for a small farmer. And that is just what the National Agro Foundation has achieved.

A non-profit organisation founded by statesman the late C. Subramaniam, who was feted for his role in the agricultural revolution, the foundation intends promoting “ecologically sustainable, economically diversified and commercially viable” activities to harness natural resources. Taking ahead its agenda through well planned and executed interventions at the community level, the foundation has established the practicability of its objectives and created scaleable models for replication.

“My father’s dream was to re-energise the rural sector, upgrade the rural people’s quality of life and improve the family income,” says Subramaniam’s son S.S. Rajsekar, who serves as managing trustee on the NAF Board. Living out this dream today are two villages—Illedu in Kancheepuram district and Madharpakkam in Tiruvallur—where the foundation pitched camp several years ago.

Since “energising” was taken to mean all-round development of different segments of the village economy, the foundation began firing many guns simultaneously. Agriculture, livestock, social and watershed development were identified as the factors that could bring about a turnaround in villages, says R.I. Raghunathan, CEO of the foundation.

Its agricultural unit offers training for farmers, soil testing at affordable rates, advice on water management and credit and market linkages for farmers, says P. Kalyanasundaram, who supervises the unit. “We provide them with technology, tools and information for fully exploiting the potential of their land, without over-exploitation.”

Small innovations such as using a chisel plough for depth, nurturing the soil appropriately, promoting horticulture and forming marketing clusters seem to have borne fruit.

To convince the farmers of the need to embrace the innovations, model farms were started. Farmers from Vidharbha in Maharashtra were also trained by the foundation.

“My farming expenses have gone down, and revenues are up,” says K. Ezhumalai of Manapakkam who has benefited from the foundation’s services.

After testing the soil at its laboratory at Taramani here and supplementing it with the right nutrients, he increased his crop yield by six bags of rice. He is now emboldened to try out a crop of tomatoes. Ganapathy of Chinna Kalakadu took out a loan to buy some cows. With the help of veterinarians of the foundation’s livestock unit, who facilitated artificial insemination, he nets a profit of Rs.1,500 a month from milk sale alone. Watersheds developed in and around the villages have helped to improve the groundwater table, thus making available water for irrigation.

The social development component includes adult literacy classes, health camps, formation of self-help groups and training women for employment in garment export units, says Sathya Prema of the foundation. The last piece of the jigsaw puzzle that completes the board is a model nursery school, which is being run on the play-way method. It is also providing food, medical checks and treatment.

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