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'Cauvery Calling' aims planting of 35 million seedlings in 9 Karnataka districts

The volunteer-driven programme is set to cover about 1,785-gram panchayats in as many as 57 taluks
Last Updated 02 August 2021, 21:12 IST

Buoyed by the successful efforts resulting in the planting of 1.1 crore saplings in the River Cauvery catchment districts in both the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during the Covid pandemic year-2020, the 'Cauvery Calling' campaign is all set to launch a massive farmer outreach programme in Cauvery districts of Karnataka starting from Tuesday.

Chairing a meeting of the Rally for Rivers Board and Cauvery Calling panel in Bengaluru, Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev said that the aim of the second-year programme is to popularise the ecologically beneficial and economically lucrative tree-based farming model among farmers besides aiming to plant 35 million seedlings.

The volunteer-driven programme is set to cover about 1,785-gram panchayats in as many as 57 taluks in the nine districts that are part of the Cauvery basin with over 24 lakh farmers.

"If we are successful in implementing this, it is not just Cauvery alone but this will be a game-changer for India and the whole tropical world. Any tropical country in the world is dependent on rain for the water." Sadhguru said. Revealing further he clarified, "The idea of Cauvery Calling is to create a demonstrable model and make it a living example for the entire world to adopt and replicate in their context."

Over the course of the next eight weeks, 1,800 events will popularise the tree-based farming model among the farming community. Famers, local administration officials from various government departments are set to participate in these events. The events will also act as a bridge between farmers and government representatives besides becoming a platform for knowledge sharing. The farmer outreach initiative will include awareness about state agroforestry schemes, incentives, eligibility criteria and the process of applying.

A unique feature of the initiative is the appointment of 890 ‘Mara Mitras’ (Friend of Tree) at every gram panchayat who will register the farmers’ demands at their doorstep using a state of the art mobile app. The data is expected to help the state government in raising saplings under various schemes for the planting season in 2022.

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(Published 02 August 2021, 21:11 IST)

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