Realising a precious dream in farming

KOZHIKODE: ‘Niravu,’  a residents’ association at Vengeri in Kozhikode,  hogged the limelight when it established the first organic village in the state.
‘Niravu’ is a farmers’ club  with 127 families which undertakes organic farming. Started with a Rs 8-lakh fund from NABARD in 2014, the organisation sold out as much as Rs 20-lakh worth organic products in the same year. A buying point for hundreds of trusted customers, the organisation has an outlet at Vandipetta in Kozhikode city.

It has a well-equipped team and systematic way of marketing products. Each family has its own unique code number which is pasted on the vegetables. This will help the customers to track from which farmer they bought the vegetables. ‘‘Niravu’ is the only organic outlet which has this tracking facility,”  says Mr Babu Prambath, project coordinator

Each family in ‘Niravu’ does farming on its house premises. The outlet sells tonnes of vegetables worth about Rs 2 lakh every month, and each family earns between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 per month. “We take 10 percent of the product as commission for survival and 90 percent is given back to the farmer,” says Mr A.P. Sathyanath, president of the organisation. Their  items include plantain stem and plantain flower which usually are not available in stores and are  in high demand.

Aruna, a member of ‘Niravu,’ has three papaya plants in her compound and mostly the papayas were wasted  until she started selling them  through ‘Niravu’ outlets. She now earns about Rs 3,000 per month.