A one-day national workshop on “Emerging Trends for Commercial Goat Farming” jointly organized by the Department of Plant Science, Bharathidasan University and Saraswathi Foundation for Rural Development and Training will be held on July 5.
Scientists from various centres of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University will be sharing their expertise on the emerging trends in commercial goat breeding and rearing. Day-to-day problems faced by farmers/entrepreneurs and pragmatic solutions to a given situation will also be discussed by the respective experts. Apart from scientists, bankers and insurance experts, successful entrepreneurs will also be sharing their expertise on various aspects of goat farming. The national workshop also encompasses a visit to an established goat farm.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy / TNN / June 29th, 2014
Nearly 12 years have passed, and it stands as a classic example
The successful rooftop rainwater harvesting structure has also given a scenic look to the Mariamman Teppakulam in Virudhunagar even during dry days. / Photo: G. Moorthy / The Hindu
Nearly 12 long years have passed, and the rainwater harvesting (RWH) system in Mariamman Teppakulam here stands as a classic example of how community involvement could bring about phenomenal changes.
Dubbed as the first project to have the biggest network of rooftop RWH structure in the State – set up in 2002– the temple tank in an arid town has descent storage of water even now when other parts of the district are reeling under water crisis.
The municipality along with Virudhunagar RWH Association and Hindu Nadar Palasarakku Mahamai began to connect the rooftops of buildings around the tank in early 2002. Water collected from the rooftops was made to drain in the tank through a network of pipelines.
“Every time, we completed a big portion of the network, we received rain within a couple of days. The raising water level in the tank encouraged more people to join us voluntarily,” said former municipal vice-chairman and Virudhunagar RWH Association joint secretary S. Balakrishnasamy.
Over 50,000 square feet of rooftops were brought under the RWH network.
Besides, the local people took up repairing a channel that supplied surplus water from the Kowshika river from where water was pumped to the tank with underground pipelines laid for more than three km. All that the then Collector K. Gopal did was facilitating the work by coordinating with all the government departments, he said.
Earlier, the tank was rendered dry for good parts of the year after fast urbanisation changed the course of rainwater that used to feed the 324 feet by 294 feet tank.
“When sewage water started mixing with the rainwater in the river, the Mahamai went a step forward and bought over four acres of land upstream to create a new water storage point,” former secretary of the Mahamai P.M.S.N.K.D. Rajavel said.
A leading channel was dug up to bring rainwater from Kowshika river into a small waterbody. An infiltration well was dug up in it from where water was pumped to the tank some five km away.
“The municipality takes care of the electricity bill for pumping water. We have erected a 40-KVA generator to keep the 25-Horse Power motor pump on as and when required,” Mr. Rajavel said.
The Mahamai has created a corpus fund of Rs.40 lakh for the RWH system. It spends around Rs.5 lakh on its maintenance and operation. Water from here and the rooftops fills up not only the tank, but also eight wells in the area.
Dedicated pipeline with a valve control has been provided allowing overflowing water from the tank to fill up the wells. “Almost the entire southern parts of the town are water- sufficient,” Mr. Rajavel said.
The pump room along Kowshika river from where water is pumped to the tank. Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu
Water stored in the storage point as a result of one hour rain in three spells last year was good enough to draw a huge quantity of water which was at least two times the capacity of the tank.
Mr. Balakrishnasamy said most of the 3,000-odd borewells in the town continued to provide sufficient water for the residents. The municipality has also created smaller rooftop RWH structures in 10 places that help in rejuvenation of groundwater in different residential areas across the town.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by S. Sundar / Virudhunagar – July 18th, 2014
Madurai Trees 25’ being released in Madurai on Sunday. Author D. Stephen, left, Assistant Professor in Botany, The American College, is seen. / Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu
Lists 25 species that are common in Madurai with details of origin and uses
‘Madurai Trees 25,’ a book on trees in Madurai was released by Madurai Green, a non-governmental environmental organisation, here on Sunday.
The book authored in Tamil by D. Stephen, Assistant Professor in Botany, The American College, has a list of 25 species that are common in Madurai, with elaborate details of the origin and uses of the trees. The book was released by P. Saravanan, managing director of Saravana Multispeciality Hospital, at Gandhi Memorial Museum where the 25 Green Walk of Madurai Green was organised on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion, N. Chidambaram, coordinator of Madurai Green, said the organisation, established 22 years ago, had conducted 25 Green Walks in the past two years. “Involvement of people in green walks has given us fresh hope that the environment of Madurai can be conserved in a better way in the coming years. The participation of youth is laudable,” he said.
“One of the major environmental issues Madurai faces is improper disposal of garbage. Sewage and garbage disposal should be done properly by the public,” Mr. Chidambaram added.
Mr. Stephen said the book would serve as guide to people on the different trees in Madurai. Purasu, nuna, athandai, vattakanni, oduvan, banyan, peepal, palm, neem and coconut were some of the trees mentioned in the book.
M.P. Vasimalai, executive director of Dhan Foundation, emphasised that the city’s green cover should be improved. “We should start planting saplings of rare and traditional trees,” he said.
President of Madurai Green D. Raghavan pointed out that the city’s temperature had rapidly increased in the three decades because of felling of trees. “In 1982, the maximum temperature here was 27 degree Celsius, whereas it was 32 degree Celsius in 1990 and now it is 39 degree Celsius,” he noted.
Members of Nanal Nanbargal and other youth organisations that took part in the green walks regularly also shared their experiences.
A.K. Xavier, Principal of St. Joseph ITI, Edwin Rajkumar, Professor of CSI Jayaraj Annapackiam College of Nursing, Ranjitham, Principal of St. Teresa Teacher’s Training Institute, and several others spoke. Free saplings of trees were distributed to those who attended the programme.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by Staff Reporter / Madurai – June 30th, 2014
Picture for representational purpose (Photo: DC archives)
Erode:
The newly-declared Sathyamangalam tiger sanctuary has emerged the largest tiger country in Tamil Nadu, with at least 60 tigers stalking the sprawling jungles. According to the latest official count, the population of the big cats has more than doubled and about 60 tigers have been captured on the hidden cameras in just four blocks of the 1405 sq.km Sathyamangalam jungles in Erode district, which was once an infamous haunt of bandit Veerappan.
“We have visual evidence of a vibrant tiger population with an attractive prey base in the Sathyamanglam jungles. The camera trappings have spotted between 50 and 60 tigers. However, the sprawling forest has the capacity to carry at least 100 tigers,” the Erode Conservator of Forests, I. Anwardeen told DC.
Interestingly, the tally of tigresses spotted in the four blocks surveyed by the Word Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Sathyamangalam unfolds a tale of huge hope for the big cats.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC / by H. Zakeer Hussain / June 28th, 2014
Its not all about technology at the IIT-M. Showing concern for the blackbuck population on its campus, which has increased from 13 in 2007 to 34 this year and other deer roaming its grounds, the institute has decided to create deer corridors with adequate space between buildings to allow the animals free movement.
“The architects drawing up a master plan for the institute have recommended that we demolish the old buildings and construct six storey ones with space in between for the deer to roam the grounds. We have decided to go along with this,” said IIT-M director, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi.
Noting that the institute had always given priority to conserving nature and animals on campus, he explained that the idea was to create more open space as several old buildings had hardly any distance between them. “We have several buildings like these at Triplicane and Mylapore, which we will now replace with taller more widely spaced constructions,” he added.
The institute has also identified a couple of houses near the lake for demolition to preserve its natural surroundings.
“As it is a low-lying area the houses are often flooded. Whenever these houses get condemned we will demolish them and their occupants shifted to multi-storey buildings that will be constructed in areas where they are permitted,” he assured, adding that the new area identified by the architects was less than three per cent of the cap placed by the institute.
Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi has been associated with the institute for over three decades as student ,faculty and director.
The IIT-M’s annual animal census last year found 34 blackbucks, 238 bonnet macaque and 403 chital deer on campus.
Wildlife conservationist R.J. Ranjith Daniels said the increase in number of blackbucks on IIT-Madras campus could be termed a success story in conservation and planning.
“We recommended to the institute to identify critical habitat, identify territories and the area of herds to preserve them, which the institute did and the number of blackbucks increased. With equal number of male and female population we now have good scope for breeding,” he said.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by N. Arun Kumar / June 15th, 2014
Sugarcane Breeding Institute develops varieties that can be alternative energy source
Coimbatore :
The Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore has developed two types “energy canes” – one which can provide sugar and energy and the other which can be a feedstock for ethanol.
The canes are being field tested, according to institute Director N Vijayan Nair said.
He told Business Line on the sidelines of a National Symposium on “Bio-energy for sustainable development – the Potential Role of Sugar crops” that a few clones of energy canes are being tested at Samalkot in Andhra Pradesh.
The institute has registered the clones with the National Bureau of Plant Registry.
Stating that the energy canes were only at the testing stage, he said that the can which can produce sugar and energy can be processed in the existing sugar factories.
The second type, which can be handy for generating energy, has high fibre and biomass yield. It has been developed with an eye on the future. “This can be used for production of cellulosic ethanol,” Nair said.
The Institute plans to promote cultivation of such canes in marginal lands, he said adding that the initial results have been positive.
Nair also said that the technology for cellulosic ethanol was changing rapidly. It nevertheless offers enough opportunity in the coming years.
The Institute, he said, was not a front-runner in this technology, but foreseeing the requirement of feedstock for ethanol, developed bio-energy canes.
“While the development this far has been appreciable, the issue is, we are not integrated on feedstock development or integrating other technologies or in development of research labs that work on process optimisation and other related technologies. Each exist in silos,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Markets> Commodities / by L N Revathy / Coimbatore – June 25th, 2014
The government’s fruit farm in Karumandurai in Salem district has received three stars in the agriculture ministry’s five-star rating system. Spread over 1,050 acres, the farm produces varieties of mango and other fruits.The National Horticulture Board, part of the agriculture ministry, gave the Karumandurai Tamil Nadu Government Fruit Farm the rating for its nursery maintenance and plant and fruit production.”This rating would be applicable for two years. We are growing more than two lakh saplings of alphonso, neelam, malgova and imam pasanth mangoes every year. We also raise one lakh guava plants, 20,000 sapota and 10,000 pomegranate plants. Apart from these, we grow other fruits such as banana and jackfruit. Every year, we grow more than 6 lakh fruit plants and made a profit of 17 lakh in the last financial year,” said A Mohan, horticulture officer at the farm.He said a farm should have consistently produced good quality fruit plants for at least three years before it is eligible for the rating. The volume of production should increase every year.
The horticulture department has 66 fruit farms across the state, of which Karumandurai farm is the biggest. The farm, started in 1981, is one of the largest in south Asia.
He said TNGFF has insect-proof screen houses, soil sterilisation yards and indexing against viral and virus-like diseases. Nursery plants are reared under the care of pathologists, entomologists and horticulturists.
The horticulture officer said this year they have planned to sell more than 6 lakh fruit plants to growers and nursery owners and that targets for coming years were also being fixed. The nursery plants of sound health ensure better life expectancy and performance in the orchards, he added.
(AM Shudhagar will send fruit farm photos)
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by B. Senthil Kumaran , TNN / June 25th, 2014
A farmer explaining the salient features of cultivating kuthiraivaali (Barnyard millet) during summer, in Watrap region of Virudhunagar district./ Photo: G. Moorthy / The Hindu
Virudhunagar district to produce 12.5 tonnes of seeds
Summer cultivation of ‘Kuthiraivaali’ (Barnyard Millet), introduced for the first time by the Department of Agriculture, has been a hit among farmers of Virudhunagar district.
While, initially, officials found it tough to convince farmers to come forward to cultivate the minor millet as a major alternative crop to cotton and paddy, the success tasted by a few farmers has helped more farmers evince interest in this crop.
Virudhunagar has been chosen to produce 12.5 tonnes of ‘Kuthiraivaali’ seeds as part of the State government’s ambitious project to increase the area under millet cultivation to ensure food, fodder and livelihood security.
“We have given 125 kg of CO (KV) 2 seeds provided by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University to 25 farmers. Cultivation of minor millets has been taken up on 50 acres,” Joint Director of Agriculture K. Subbiah said. The seeds are expected to be ready by August for sowing in September across the State.
Assured yield
Deputy Director P. Vanniyarajan said diversification to millet cultivation, especially during summer, would give assured yield with higher returns.
P. Poongavanam, a farmer in W. Pudupatti, said he had increased the extent of summer cultivation to eight acres because of ‘Kuthiraivaali’ that consumed less than 50 per cent of the water required for paddy or cotton.
S. Vijayakumar (54) of Maharajapuram is used to rain-fed irrigation of ‘Kuthiraivaali.’ He expected more than double the yield now, thanks to the improved variety of seeds and modern irrigation technique.
Another farmer, R. Gnanagurusamy (63), said that cultivation of the minor millet had the advantages of less water and fertilizer, no pesticide and free from crop damage by birds and animals.
Input cost less
“The input cost is less because of decreased need for weeding and farm preparation,” he said.
Stating that the plants grew taller (up to 6.25 feet) under irrigated condition, the Assistant Director (Seed Certification), S. Ramamoorthy, said farmers had the benefit of getting more quantity of fodder.
Besides getting higher yield and higher price, farmers who have taken up ‘Kuthiraivaali’ for seed production are given higher price. “While the market price is Rs. 25 to 30 a kg, we have promised to give them Rs. 50 a kg,” Muthaiah, an Agricultural Officer, said.
The officials are also planning to set up a unit to process the minor millet at a cost of Rs. 2.20 lakh after forming a cluster of ‘Kuthiraivaali’ farmers. “The farmers will get a better price for value addition,” Mr. Vanniyarajan said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by S. Sundar / Virudhunagar – June 21st, 2014
Work is on full swing in Rajapalayam municipality of Virudhunagar district for the fabrication of digester to convert biodegradable waste into electricity. The project, which is believed to be the first in the southern districts, is expected to produce 40 kW of power from next month.
The Tamil Nadu government had in February this year announced that steps would be taken to produce green power from biodegradable waste and the Rajapalayam municipality was one of the first to take steps towards achieving this. The municipality has its garbage dumping area near the foothills of the Sanjeevi hills in Kothankulam spread over an area of 25 acres. Now, work is underway for constructing the 10.5 m diameter digester, which will produce gas through the process of biomethanization technology and this gas in turn would be utilized to produce electricity.
The municipality produces 55 tonnes of garbage on a daily basis and five metric tones of biodegradable wastes are separated from it every day. The five metric tonnes would go into the production of methane and the residue from the plant that is the treated liquid, which remains after producing the gas would be used as plant fertilizer. The plant itself, which is being built at a cost of Rs 90 lakh is a pre-fabricated one. The power which is expected to be produced by the end of August this year is said to have the capacity to light up to 800 tubelights. Initially, the power produced would be deposited with the TNEB substation in Kothangulam and would be deducted from the municipality power bills.
Once the project comes into effect the municipality is expected to see a reduction in power cuts which has been plaguing the people of this region. “We have faced even 10 hours of no power situations and any improvement would be welcome,” the residents say. According to the municipality commissioner Ramasamy the system is equipped with anaerobic digesters and modified up-flow anaerobic sludge bed reactors which would produce the green electricity. While part of the slurry would be utilized for fertilizer, a part would be used for operating the plant through a specialised system.
According to sources, the environmental impact through this project would be immense as it would help to reduce carbon-dioxide emission by about 500 metric tonnes every year, when the plant goes operational. The chairperson of the municipality Dhanalakshmi said that they plan to go for another bioenergy plant next year, based on the success of this one.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah , TNN / June 20th, 2014
Valparai has been in festive mood since the Kodai Vizha opened in the tea town on May 30. Though meant to showcase the town as a tourist destination, the local population dominated the crowd that had gathered at the government high school. A host of events mirroring the summer fest in Ooty including dog show, flower show, gymnastics performances, music and magic kept the crowd entertained.
By Saturday noon the place was swarming with people as tea estates in the region and the district administration had declared a holiday. “There is not much opportunity for the estate employees to go out of Valparai and such events are the only mode of entertainment for them and their family,” said an official involved in organizing the event.
A tent was raised on the school’s playground and classrooms were converted into stalls with exhibits displayed by various departments of the state government. “The traffic exhibit has a mini theatre that screens short films on road safety with clips taken from CCTVs installed at the traffic signals. It is good way of helping youngsters understand traffic regulations,” said Sreenivasan M, 36, a tourist from Madurai, who was rushing to the playground to catch a glimpse of the gymnastic show.
The forest department showcased the wildlife of Anamalai Tiger Reserve and had put up charts about snakes in the Western Ghats. Stalls from the horticulture department, TANTEA (Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation Limited) and the health department were more about showcasing their activities.
Of course, food was available in plenty. From savouries to biriyani, everything was available at the more than 10 food stalls at the venue. “I earn nearly Rs500 on a normal day. But, yesterday (Friday) I earned 60% more than the regular,” said Chandrashekar B, a savoury lentils vendor.
The crowd-puller this year was the paragliding event. “We have got permission only for two days and the kind of enthusiasm among the tourists, especially small children, is amazing. I feel bad when I say no to a kid who weighs less than 40kg,” said Babu, a glider from Coimbatore, who was in-charge of the adventure sport. “We had planned for zorbing ball, parasailing and paragliding. But, we did not get permission from the forest department. Paragliding was organized after the district administration took responsibility for security,” said Babu.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Adarsh Jain, TNN / June 01st, 2014
