Comprehensive Pilot Programme for Revitalizing Rainfed Agriculture in the Jawadhu Hills - Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu. Work done and in progress for the period of May-June 2012

Basic information about Community and Habitation in Kovilur Gram Panchayat No. of Revenue villages – 3  Kovilur  Erumaiyanur  Keezhthattiyapattu No. of hamlet villages – 54 No. of families  SC – 159  ST – 2,365  OC – 368 Total– 2,892 Total population  Male – 7,135  Female – 6,722 Total– 13,852

Area under cultivation in Kovilur Gram Panchayat (3 Revenue villages) Kharif  Rainfed – acres  Irrigated – acres Rabi  Rainfed – acres  Irrigated – acres Total– acres

Details about functioning of existing facilities / CBO’s in Kovilur Gram Panchayat  Schools – 17 No’s  Health care centre– 2 No’s  Drinking water facility– 209 No’s  SHG’s (Men) – 28 No’s  SHG’s (Women) – 55 No’s  Handicapped groups – 26 No’s  Farmer clubs – 12 No’s  Farmers group – 5 No’s  Co-operative society – 1 No’s  JFM committee (Forest) - 2 No’s

Seed source Crops & Varieties  22 crops  21 local varieties –local source  9 improved varieties – Public and private sector  2 hybrid varieties –Private sector Total quantity of seed requirement / year (2 season – Kharif & Rabi – irrigated and rainfed) - 1,27, Kg  Within the villages – 1,04, Kg  Village outside source– 22, kg  Total area under cultivation / year – Acres

Trend analysis about diversification of crops and varieties in Kovilur Gram Panchayat (Between the period of ) Example  Little millet – 2350 acres during 1990 – 4 local varieties – acres during 2011 – 6 varieties including 2 improved varieties  White sorghum – 28 acres during 1990 – only one variety – 3 acres during 2011 – only one variety

Trend Analysis – Contd., Area under cultivation  1970 – acres  1980 – acres  1990 – acres  2000 – acres  2012 – acres

Possibilities of Linking with other departments / Institutions  Department of Agriculture*  Department of Horticulture*  Department of Forestry*  Gram Panchayat office*  Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU)*  National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)*  Banks*  Livestock Department  NGO’s – DONSBOSCO*, VRDP, DHAN, VIT etc Note : *-Already we started our work with those department

S. No. Type of the small millets Name of the varieties No. of variety 1 Little Millet - Samai CO 4 6 Sittan Samai (local) White variety IR 8 IR 20 SS 1 2 Proso Millet - Panivaragu Local variety 3 CO 5 SS 2 Details about types and varieties of small millets to be cultivated

S. No. Type of the small millets Name of the varieties No. of variety 3 Finger Millet - Ragi Mutta Kelvaragu 9 GPU – 28 CO 14 Malali Nagamala Bili Munduga Jagaluru Pichakaddi Bonda Details about types and varieties of small millets to be cultivated - continue …

S. No. Type of the small millets Name of the varieties No. of variety 4 Barnyard Millet - Kuthuraivaali CO-2 3 SS - 3 Rmd – 1 5 Foxtail Millet - Thenai Local variety 7 CO -7 Yadiyuru White variety Gross variety Mabbu variety Tree variety Details about types and varieties of small millets to be cultivated - continue …

S. No. Type of the small millets Name of the varieties No. of variety 6 Kodo Millet - Varagu Porai varagau 3 CO 3 SS 4 Total6 types31 Details about types all varieties of small millets to be cultivated - continue…

No. of farmers & Area selected for Demo field S. No. Type of the millets No. of farmers Area in acre 1Little millet Proso millet Finger millet Barn yard millet Foxtail millet Kodo millet10.25 Total114.75

No. of farmers & Area selected for Seed Production S. No. Type of the millets No. of farmer s No. of varietie s Area in acre 1Little millet954 2Proso millet421 3Finger millet441 4Foxtail millet220.4 Total

Details of farmers & Areas selected for CO (Saamai) 4 variety Front line Demonstration (FLD)  Name of the villages – Attiyanur  No. of farmers – 13  Area – 26 acres  Millets seeds already distributed to the farmers

Work done in seed thematic area  Collected the details about no. of crops and varieties cultivated, quantity of seeds requirement in each crop & seed source etc.  Purchased small millets seeds from the following source  Sahaja Samrudha – Bangalore  TNAU – Coimbatore  Agriculture Department – Paramakudi  Local farmers

Other works done  TNAU - Department of Millets, agreed to supply 996 Kgs. of Co (Saamai) 4 variety seeds to our farmer through their project (NRTT) within June end.  Department of horticulture agreed to supply 250 No’s Curry leaf saplings to our farmers within June end.

Experiments Planned  To document varietal performance in little millet and in finger millet  To increase the yield of little millet with the use of coconut water and butter milk

Possibilities with TNAU  Visited Department of Millets, entomology, Ramaiah Seed Bank and Seed Centre at TNAU on 25 th May  Lot of Scopes are available for working with TNAU particularly with Department of Millets

Efforts visit CTMR  Organized farmers meeting with Centre for Traditional Medicine Research (CTMR) and TASUDMA (Tamilnadu Ayurvedic Siddha and Unani Drug Manufactures Association) on 16 th May 2012 at Chennai.  Discussed about the possibilities production and marketing of medicinal plants from Jawathu hills (cultivation and wild collection).  Planned to make a tripartite agreement in between CIKS, CTMR and TASUDMA and for proceeding further activities.

Collaboration with NABARD  11 Farmers were approved by NABARD.  Submitted one proposal under FTTF  Submitted Project Implementing Agency (PIA) and Project Area Data Sheet under TDF

Community Certificate for Farmers in Kovilur Gram Panchayat  Started negotiation with legal consultancies about how to get community certificate to these farmers.

Millet Processing Unit  Started the effort of using millet processing unit effectively with 2 millets. (little millets and Fox tail millet)

Trainings  Conducted primary trainings to demo field farmers, seed production farmer and FLD farmers about a procedures to be followed.

Lets go on……