Niravu Organic Village, an e-tail project aimed
at encouraging the cultivation of hybrid varieties of organic vegetables, was
launched by a residential association, comprising 101 households, in a ward of
Vengeri village of Kerala’s Kozhikode district (which is the first organic
village in the southern state, and does not use pesticides).
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)-funded project, would enjoy technical support from the Kerala Agriculture University and the agriculture department. A study conducted in March 2014 by the Pesticide Residue Research and Analytical Laboratory under the College of Agriculture in Vellayani gave its vegetable samples zero-pesticide certificates.
The seven main vegetables sold by Niravu include tomato, cherry tomato, ladies’ finger, long beans, brinjal, broad beans and ivy gourd. The concept is aimed at bringing all farmers in the district on one platform, i.e. the Niravu website, where they can connect to their customers easily. The people behind the project are compiling a database of farmers to support their market through their website.
There was a huge demand for the organic vegetables produced under the Niravu banner, which prompted the state government to support the Vengeri initiative. It is providing free lab testing of vegetables cultivated in the village, and every vegetable produced by a farmer would have a tag bearing his name. This would ensure direct communication between the farmers and the consumers.
Babu Parambath, green activist and project coordinator, Niravu Organic Village, said, “Niravu is a revolutionary concept, born in 2006. We pledged to produce purely organic vegetables. The effect of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in vegetables was a revelation in our minds. It has devastating effects like deadly diseases and deteriorating human health.”
“Going back to organic vegetables for household use was a mere choice we made. We got to know about many hybrid varieties and planting methods for better growth of plants. Thus we had surplus produce. We started selling it outside the village, and spread the sales to other parts of the district also,” he added.
“The increasing demand and aid from government made our farms flourish. The Niravu Organic Village concept has been developed for better trade and selling products to its consumers,” Parambath said. K P Padmakumar, district development manager, NABARD, Kozhikode, said organic farming was the need of the hour in Kerala.
“It is heavily dependent on the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for the supply of vegetables. Niravu has been practicing organic farming methods for the last 7-8 years in Vengeri. Further, NIRAVU is doing yeoman service in the field of protecting environmental balance,” he added.
“It personalises environmental issues and enables everyone to realise not only their responsibilities, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development,” Padmakumar stated.