Tribal group brings back greenery in barren land

  PALAKKAD: A group of Adivasis at Koodanchala settlement in Attappadi has converted its five-acre barren land into farm land thanks to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS).A patch of barren land at the Sholayur panchayat in Attapadi block was turned green with the arduous handwork and commitment of the seven-member team, including Rangan, Murugan, Haridas, Balakrishnan, Narayanan, Manikandan and Chelli."We have cultivated peas, tomatoes, black gram, plantain, jasmine, horse gram, toor dhal, pumpkins and other vegetables. Four of us have cultivated banana as intermediary crop,” Murugan says.“The land has been lying barren for the last several years. Under the MNREGS, we converted it into farm land. The Attappadi Hill Area Development Society (Ahads) has dug a well and installed a pumpset at a cost of Rs 9 lakh which irrigates the land,” Haridas, another member, says.  He added that all of them were job card holders under the MNREGS.“We worked to make the land cultivable and got wages too. With this amount,   we purchased the seeds of various vegetables,” he said.Narayanan, another member of the group, said: “Though I used to undertake odd jobs earlier, farming has created so much interest in me that now a days I am a full-time farmer.”There are 13,000 acres of waste land in Attappadi of which 5,500 acres belong to the Adivasis.Now, under the MNREGS, more than 173 Adivasis have come back to agriculture.“Agricultural operations returned to Adivasi settlements after the implementation of a special action plan, costing Rs 64 crore. The Scheduled Tribe promoters prepared the plan by convening village meetings with the financial assistance  of the SC/ST Department”, block programme officer Radhakrishnan said.He added that Adivasis taking up farming activities ensured food security apart from providing them with wages under the MNREGS."Ultimately our plan is to promote organic farming though the Adivasis," he said.