After two years, a green revolution taking place at Idayakottai in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul

A view of the community farm developed at Idayakottai in Dindigul district.
| Photo Credit: G. Karthikeyan

For the 3, 654 farmers, who procured free saplings from the multiutility community forest, an ongoing project at Idayakottai, it has been a novel experience.

Once the farmers envisage their interest, the staff from this community get their aadhar details which are fed into the computer and details of the saplings given are loaded. And before the saplings are handed over, the team visits the farm, checks the right spot and also tells the farmer the size of the pit he should dig.

This meticulous planning was new to Ponnusami, a farmer from Reddiyapatti. He was in for more surprise, as after the planting was done, the team was doing a regular follow up. This has encouraged farmers like him to approach the members of the project for more saplings.

This unassertive awareness wave is creating major ripples in Oddanchatram constituency in Dindigul district.

The initiative by R. Sakkarapani, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, has changed the once barren landscape into a verdant green forest. The 117 acres of land belonging to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department at Idayakottai in Dindigul district, now has 6.40 lakh trees growing in a lush manner changing even the climatic condition of the area. 

Manoj Kumar, a supervisor at the project site, says that residents in the vicinity say that the temperature is tad lower than the other areas and rainfall in the region has also increased exponentially especially during monsoon.

It has been two years since the saplings were planted on December 23, 2022 by using Miyawaki method. The saplings were planted when they were two feet in height and now they have crossed 10 feet. In another two years, Manoj says that it would become a self-sustaining ecosystem. Right now about 50 workers are involved in providing drip irrigation, pruning and application of fertilizers. After another two years, this maintenance would not be needed, he adds.

Across the road, is the nursery on 2.5 acres, that provides native saplings free of cost. The workers in the project take care of the saplings that are provided by the Forest department. The saplings are put in plant bags, raised to a certain stage and then given to farmers, NHAI, State Roadways etc. for plantation. This has resulted in numerous pungai and tamarind trees growing on roadsides in Oddanchatram.

For the community at large, this success story has brought in numerous visitors to this young forest. On weekdays, schools from nearby areas bring their students, who go around the plantation and have a stop over at the medicinal plant park that is also taking shape within the premises. Students of agriculture come regularly to do research and on weekends, a little park established within this forest is a picnic spot for nearby villagers.

The community concept is flourishing due to the active involvement of various government departments and also the private sector. Cost for maintenance etc., is borne by the HR & CE Department and the Forest Department along with the CSR funding by major players like IOC and SBI and numerous private enterprises.

Minister Sakkarapani says, “Plantation drive can only succeed with active public participation and it is for that purpose that we decided to implement a follow-up system to check the saplings that are distributed free. This has actually encouraged many to come forward to get saplings from us.”

“If we are able to follow this model we can surely achieve the Chief Minister’s target to increase the green cover from 23.76% to 33% in the next 10 years in Tamil Nadu,” he adds.