Email Address
info@missionvivekananda.org.in
Phone Number
+91 8589991227
Our Location
Agali ,Palakkad-678581
Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission
info@missionvivekananda.org.in
+91 8589991227
Agali ,Palakkad-678581
The medicinal plants cultivation project was started in 2019 with support from NABARD. It is being implemented in four tribal villages of Sholayur Panchayat of Attappady block benefitting 100 tribal farmers.
The project is supported by NABARD under the Farm Sector Promotion Fund (FSPF). Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (Coimbatore) provides the technical support for the project. A tri-partite agreement was created between the farmers, Arya Vaidya Pharmacy and the implementing agency for selling the produce at an assured price.
A mother nursery was set-up at the start of the project for the purpose of developing, storing and distributing the medicinal plant saplings.
Nine species of medicinal plants were selected for the project. The nursery houses the saplings/seedlings of these species.
The distribution of saplings and planting was completed for the 50 first-year beneficiaries by the month of November, 2020. For the second-year beneficiaries also, all saplings were distributed by the end of June 2021.
As part of the project, 16 capacity building workshops were conducted over two years. Major topics covered in the workshops were cultivation of medicinal plants, bio-fertilizers and pesticides, micro-irrigation methods, bee-keeping, financial management etc. The instructors for workshops were experts in their respective fields.
Iruveli and Chunda were the crops sold during the project period. Other species are only getting ready for harvest and will be sold only after the project period. Four rounds of Iruveli sales were conducted during the project period. A total sale of Rs. 3,32,510 was done in these rounds. During each round of sale, the officials of Arth Herbs, Extracts and Derivatives Ltd. visited the village for procuring the produce. The payments were done either in cash or as bank transfers immediately after the sale. The sale was done according to the tripartite agreement.
In addition to the project activities, 50 farmers of Vellakkulam and Moolagangal villages were provided with various farm tools like Garden Manvetty, Hand Sprayer, Reflective Ribbon etc. and Bio fertilizers with help from Kerala Agriculture University. Two farmers of Vellakkulam and Moolagangal also received a machine that was developed in KAU to drive away wild animals from agricultural plots.
All the farmers were organised into Joint Liability Groups(JLG) and linked with banks for enrolment under Kisan Credit Card.
A Project Implementation and Monitoring Committee (PIMC) has been formed comprising of the NABARD District Development Manager, Lead Development Manager, CANARA Bank, Representatives of Agriculture Department, Panchayat, and Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, farmer representatives etc. The committee met regularly, reviewed the progress of the project, and suggested corrective measures. The members of the committee also interacted with the beneficiary farmers.
Visit of DGM NABARD: On 16th March 2021, Smt. Usha P T, Deputy General Manager, NABARD (Kerala Regional Office) along with Sri. Lalu P N Kutty, DDM, NABARD (Palakkad) visited the project area. The aim of the visit was to review the activities of the project and interact with the beneficiary farmers. The interaction was attended by farmer representatives from Moolagangal, Vellakkulam, Oothukkuzhy and Chavadiyoor villages. The DGM NABARD talked about the importance of credit linkages and future plans of the project. She also explained the concept of Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) to the farmers.
Income Improvement and Sustainable
Iruveli was sold four times and each farmer was able to earn an average ranging from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 30000. The amount was immediately transferred to the farmers after the sale.The sale of Iruveli has led to a 15-20% increment in income of the farmers, which is expected to increase with the sale of other species.
Change in Attitude towards farming
Before the implementation of the FSPF project the tribal members were more inclined towards works like MGNREGA which gives them a daily income. They had low interest in farming due to various reasons. Through various capacity building workshops SVMM was able to change this attitude. After seeing the success of those who became a part of this project others are also gaining interest in farming. The assured prices and quick payment also motivated the farmers to expand the cultivation in greater areas through replantation. The farmers who were not motivated to cultivate in the initial stages have started procurement of the seedlings and cuttings on their own.
The project will be completed in December 2021. In order to extend the benefits of the project to more tribal farmers, a scaling up plan has been drawn up. The plan involves recruiting more tribal farmers into medicinal plant cultivation, inviting other Ayurveda pharma companies for procuring the products, organising the farmers into Farmer Producer Company (FPC), credit linkage of farmers to banks etc. Officials of Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala visited Vellakulam village, interacted with the farmers and put forward a buy back arrangement with them. A leading Multinational Company has provided support for the farmers to start cultivation at a larger scale. A project to establish irrigation facilities for a majority of farmers is also starting in Vellakulam with help from the MNC.
