KOCHI: Travanco, a cooperative of farmers based out of Pathanamthitta, is reaching out to the rest of the state to turn farmers into agripreneurs through precision farming.
With this what the cooperative aims is that farmers wouldn’t be at the mercy of vagaries of nature while it ensures a market and fair price for their products. The Travancore Rural Development Producers Company Limited (Travanco), came into being with a paid up capital of Rs 3 lakh over a decade ago, which was the share of farmers. Today it has 2,000 members, over 7,000 customers and a turnover of Rs 20 crore.
Travanco started its activities in Pathanamthitta ending exploitation of rubber farmers by procuring latex on a large scale from them by fixing a fair price. Later it focused on giving loans to farmers and starting a largely successful mutual benefit fund to meet the financial needs of the members.
“Today we are aiming for reaping a rich harvest from small farms by focusing on vegetable cultivation. Once this is spread through the length and breadth of the state, we will be able to support small farmers to produce organic vegetables for the entire state and even for exports,” says Sethu M. R., its chief executive officer.
Initially, Travanco is focusing on eight districts from Thiruvanantha-puram to Thrissur. “We have empanelled agencies who set up good poly houses at a low cost. We also aid in creating rain guard farming, rain house farming and aquaponics. NABARD is also there to provide funds if we give a viable project,” he said.
