As part of an initiative to promote total organic farming among 1,000 families living in six wards in Venganoor panchayat, more than 800 families who have switched over to zero-poison farming met at Muttakkad near here on Sunday. This was the eighth such farmers’ meet, a press note issued here said.

The meet gave the finishing touches to a plan to enable more families to switch to organic farming in a year’s time. The organic farmers’ group, set up under the organic farming popularisation programme of the Kerala Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi, is being promoted with assistance from Venganoor grama panchayat, the Krishi Bhavan, the State Horticulture Mission and NABARD.

At the meet, prizes were distributed to the winners of the organic farming contests. Lalitha, a resident of Panancode who secured the first prize, was given a goat as the prize. Other winners were given farming equipment. All participants were given organic fertilizers, seeds, a pamphlet on organic farming and certificate, , the press note said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Special Correspondent / Thiruvananthapuram – December 29th, 2014