Pollachi MP attended the conference as a special guest

9th Jan 2022: As part of Isha’s Save Soil movement, a farmer’s conference on generating 15 sources of income from coconut cultivation was conducted in Pollachi yesterday. Around 1,500 farmers from all over Tamil Nadu participated in the conference which took place at the Nallamuthu Gounder Mahalingam College. Mr. K Shanmugasundaram, Pollachi MP, Mrs. S Priyanka, Sub collector Pollachi and MR GGD Gopalakrishnan, Head of Chamber of Commerce Pollachi were present at the event.

Mr. Valluvan, a pioneer in natural farming, Mr. Ko Siddhar, a Siddha physician, Mr. Saminathan, an entomologist, Mr. Saravanan Kandasami, a soil expert, Mrs. Josephine Mary( VPS), honey bee farmer, Mrs. Yamuna Devi, a young entrepreneur, Mr. Tamil Maran, Cauvery Calling Field Coordinator and Mr. Dhanapal, Neera manufacturer spoke at the conference and shared many ideas.

Experts also spoke about techniques to increase soil fertility thereby increasing coconut output and methods to add value to coconut-related products to increase the farmer’s income.

Further, topics such as bee boxes in the coconut grove increasing the tree’s fruit-bearing capacity, using neera to generate year-long income, protecting coconut trees from white insect infestation, and inter-cropping coconut with high-value crops such as pepper and timber trees were discussed. The medicinal qualities of the coconut tree and the various day-to-day problems faced by coconut farmers and solutions for these problems were also featured in discussions at the conference.