Coconut farmers in the western region of the State who are just beginning to know about the significance of Tamil Nadu Organic Farming Policy 2023 seemingly choose to be in a ‘wait and watch’ mode before exploring its utility.
The policy envisaging focus on potential crop clusters and prospective districts has identified Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode for promoting organic cultivation of coconut crops.
Factoring in the rapid pace of growth for organic food products at the global level, the government, through the policy, proposes to establish district-level collection centres and retail sales centres at urban locations under Tamil Nadu Horticultural Produces Co-operative Enterprises, primarily a farmers co-operative, so that a steady flow of organic produce is ensured between the producers and consumers. It is another matter that the policy that requires the Horticulture Department to train organic producers in GAP (Global Agricultural Practices), SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures), and traceability (process of tracking organic products from their source to the consumer) is yet to be disseminated.
Promotion of organic farming is being carried out commonly for fruits and vegetables and plantation crops. As such, specific focus on promoting organic farming practices for coconut is yet to gain ground, P. Sidharthan, Deputy Director of Horticulture, acknowledged.
Coconut farmers in the Western region confirmed that the special focus on organic cultivation by the Horticulture Department was not noticeable as yet.
Progressive coconut farmers, nevertheless, seem to be at a loss to understand why the Horticulture department has not reached out to them with the details of the Tamil Nadu Organic Farming Policy 2023.
“We would really appreciate if the field staff of the Horticulture Department interact with the farmers. There should be a mechanism in place to recognise best practices,” Kaliprakash, a coconut farmer in T.K. Pudur in Pollachi Taluk, said. Organic cultivation of coconut was now being carried out only on experimental basis, he said.
It involves high costs. For instance, 20 to 50 kg organic manure must be applied per palm per year with the onset of south-west monsoon when the soil moisture content is high. And different forms of organic manures such as compost, farmyard manure, bone meal, fish meal, blood meal, neem cake and groundnut cake, will have to be used, besides green manuring, leaf manuring and cover cropping practices to add nutrients.
However, ensuring adequate availability of the organic materials that are imperative for strengthening physical and biological conditions of the soil is also a challenge, farmers point out.
Published – February 09, 2025 05:56 pm IST