They say he is a Chief Minister who never sleeps, working 24 X 7 x 365. Yet, Oommen Chandy never fails to find time for farming, growing a whole lot of vegetables on the terrace of his house. In fact, this is where he goes to, first thing in the morning.
With his wife Mariamma and grandchildren, Chandy tends to tomato plants, brinjal shrubs, chilli plants, capsicum plants and even cabbage and cauliflower. They grow these plants in an organic manner, without any trace of chemicals in them.
When his grandchildren bite into the ripe vegetables, Chandy encourages them saying: ‘’Go on, eat it, it has no impurities or toxins and is totally safe.’’ And this precisely is what the Chief Minister has to tell the people of Kerala - Grow the vegetables you need at home, we can easily produce what we need without having to depend on others.
Chemical farming, whether as fertilisers or as pesticides, is a complete no-no here. For manure, the Chandy household depends on vermi-compost, cow dung, ash and bone-meal, using each once a week or so.
Instead of pesticides, they pick out the pests by hand from each and every plant whenever it is possible. They also control pest incidence by using a diluted mix of cow’s urine and ‘kanthari.’ The kanthari variety of small chilli is ground into a paste, mixed with cow’s urine and sprayed on the plants. Apart from this homemade remedy that will keep away the pests, the Chandy home also depends on the friendly microbes, the neutromonas florescence, to fight the pests.
Like most households in the city, it is the Karshika Karma Sena of the Kudappanakkunnu Krishi Bhavan that supervises the vegetable farming activities of the Chandy home too. The initiative by the Agricultural Department is intended to promote agriculture in fallow lands and buildings owned by the state government.
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