A Kerala village has now fully switched to organic farming, thanks to the efforts of a local bank that went the extra mile to motivate people into doing it. Chemical-free farming was introduced in Parakkadavu in 2014 by Parakkadavu Service Cooperative Bank.
In last four years, the bank has succeeded in engaging 800 people in different farming activities and about 25 barren fields in the village are converted into agricultural land where various crops were harvested. In the beginning, the bank started supplying ‘grow-bags’, with the aim of promoting terrace farming in the Parakkadavu. This turned out to be a success and people banded up to form organic farming groups in the village.
Now, the chain has developed furthermore forming 48 agricultural groups. The villagers cultivate various crops like paddy, banana, corn, and various vegetables and don’t rely upon pesticides. The bank not only offered attractive loan schemes, it also gave subsidies and Kisan Credit Cards to the villagers participating in the project.
“It’s more like an organic revolution, we would say,” bank officials told The New Indian Express
The movement gained momentum as these groups teamed up to move on from terraces and invest their green thumbs to resuscitate barren lands and fields across their village. Vegetables were harvested from nearly 12 acres of land at Odiyappadam at Kurumassery. Under the Puzhayoram farming group, fish farming is carried out at Poovathussery. The villagers are also involved in duck breeding, chicken breeding, polyhouse farming, floriculture, and hi-tech fish farming. The harvests are sold to the villagers itself.
