The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : School students sensitised to organic farming

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Saturday, Aug 09, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

School students sensitised to organic farming

Staff Reporter

— Photo: R. Ashok

Greening efforts: Vice-Chancellor of Bharathidasan University M. Ponnavaikko, right, handing over the first copy of a manual on environmental upkeep to Chief Educational Officer K. Swaminathan, in Tiruchi on Friday.

TIRUCHI: Nearly 200 school students learnt to appreciate nature better after attending a workshop on ‘Organic Farming’ at the National Facility for Marine Cyanobacteria, Bharathidasan University, on Friday.

The mandate of the students, who were exposed to various advantages of organic farming on personal health and environmental conservation fronts, was to spread the awareness among their peers, neighbours, family and relatives. Each of them resolved to grow 10 trees and raise vegetables using organic manure.

As part of the training, organised by the NFMC, in association with District Youth and Students’ Exnora, Snegham Trust and Samarpanam, the students were taken on a visit to the seven-acre organic farm on the university premises.

They witnessed an LCD presentation on organic farming made by P. Mallika, Assistant Professor, NFMC, and a CD on how chemical fertilisers are wreaking havoc on the health of the people, even causing deaths. Students learnt how chemical fertilisers destroy soil nutrients and earthworms, Dr. Mallika said, adding that they were motivated to improve food production of the country scientifically and conserve environment through the training programme.

Receiving the first copy of a manual on environmental upkeep from the Vice-Chancellor M. Ponnavaikko, the Chief Educational Officer, K. Swaminathan, who inaugurated the programme, emphasised on the potential of student community to bring about a change in the cultivation pattern by spreading the awareness in the society.

Presiding over, the Vice-Chancellor cautioned the student community against being ignorant of the consequences of leading a life of comfort away from nature. He recounted how mankind gradually drifted from nature and made itself susceptible to diseases due to consumption of crops raised with application of chemical fertilisers.

While the population is on the rise, the green cover is fast depleting causing ecological imbalance. Rising sea level and extinction of animals are among the major consequences of global warming, he said, seeing a solution in the student community restoring green cover by growing trees in large numbers.

L. Uma, Director and Head, NFMC, explained the objective of the training programme. E. Paul Guna Lognath, Managing Trustee, Snegham Trust, emphasised on the need to sensitise students to the causes for pollution and the ways of addressing them. S.N. Kamakoti Sundar, president, Samarpanam, also spoke.

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