Receiving Best Farmers' Club Award From P Chidambaram

The proudest moment in the journey of the club was the receipt of the Best Farmers' Club in Kerala from the Finance Minister of India, Mr. P Chidambaram. Here is the photo from that proud moment.

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The photo shows (from left to right) S/Shri U.C.Sarangi, Chairman, NABARD, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Union Minister of State for Finance, A.M.Mathew, President Kakkenagad Farmers Club, P.Chidambaram, Union Minister for Finance, K.T.Divakaran, Manager, NMGB, Kakkengad Branch, P.A.Premakumar, DDM, NABARD.

Here is the news item that appeared in the Newspaper.

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Scheme for Employment to One Thousand People

A few newspaper reports about our ambitious plan to give employment to One Thousand People

(Link to this paper here)

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Cultivation of Cabbage and Cauli Flower

Cabbage and Cauli Flower have always been vegetables imported from the neighbouring states for the people of our village. But when one of our JLG cultivated them, it was a big surprise and a proof that for a group of determined persons nothing is impossible. A news item on the subject from Mathrubhumi daily is here.

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Rabbit Farming Class

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Renovation of Ponds

Realising the fact that conservation of water bodies is essential for the sustained development, Kakkyangad Farmers Club actively participated  in the campaign launched by NMGB, and took the lead in

cleaning the village ponds in the grama panchayat. A few photos on the activity are given below.

The Club Members renovated an old pool in the village making it usable. A few pictures from the action

Here is a report from the press

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Preventive Disaster Management

Preventive Disaster Management

Kakkengad Farmers' Club sets an example

The dreaded disease Chikungunea struck some parts of Kerala recently leading to loss of many precious lives. Panic struck the entire state  and the people were driven to a state of desperation. The state government raised an alarm when the number of deaths started mounting as days passed by. A central team and experts from World Health Organisation visited the disease prone areas of the state to take stock of the situation. Experts suggested that keeping the surroundings clean is the only measure which could be taken to escape from this dreaded disease as so far no preventive vaccine has been developed.

Taking a cue from the advise of District Development Manager(DDM) of NABARD, Kakkengad Farmers Club sponsored by NMGB took the lead to launch a systematic plot to plot cleanliness operation and door to door awareness campaign to combat the mosquitoe menance. The strong network of SHGs, for which these Farmers Clubs provided umbrella support, facilitated carrying out the operation in a systematic, foolproof and time bound manner much before the state machinery could launch its “Litter Free-Clean Kerala” campaign. The Farmers Club and the Coordination Committee of SHGs functioning under its fold convened an emergency meeting of their members and discussed threadbare about various precautionary measures  that could be taken to prevent the dreaded disease from making any inroads into their panchayath. The suggested plan of action and inputs on preventive measures provided by the DDM were discussed in the meeting. Besides, the advise of doctors attached to Public Health Centre was also taken. A plan of action covering the entire panchayath was chalked out in the meeting which unanimously decided to plunge into action the next day itself by actively involving all the 200 SHG under their fold and their members. They did not waste any time and the message about the plan of action was passed on to all the SHGs on the same day evening itself through the SHG Coordinators and the campaign was launched in the right earnest the next day morning.

The very fact that about eighty per cent of the population of the panchayath were linked to the SHG movement, stood in good stead for spreading the outreach of the programme throughout the panchayth within a very short time. The beauty of the plan was that each SHG member took the responsibility of cleaning the surroundings of her/his own house with the help of members of the group. Articles which are considered to act as breeding grounds for mosquitoes were collected and destroyed and funnels of septic tanks were covered with plastic nets. All places prone to water logging were cleaned and waste disposal carried out in the entire Panchayath. Besides, each household was taught about the precautionary measures to be taken. Around 4000 SHG members carried out the operation, which lasted for three days, in all the fourteen wards of the Panchayath.

Through this initiative, the Farmers Clubs and SHGs have proved to the society that they can act as triggers for preventive disaster management  by keeping aloft the dictum “self help and mutual help are the best medicines for keeping away any disaster from one’s doorstep”. The proactive role played by the Farmers Club and the SHGs under its fold was appreciated by the print and visual media. Malayala Manorama, one of the leading dailies carried a feature about this initiative in its 9 October 2006 edition under “Sukrutha Keralam”. 

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Free Rubber Tapping Training

Free Rubber Tapping Training Classes was inaugurated by The Chairman of North Malabar Gramin Bank Mr. V K Saigal at the Kakkengad Farmers' club Office. The training is being conducted by North Malabar Gramin Bank, RUDSET  Institute Kannapuram, NABARD and Kakkengad Farmers' Club.The function was presided over by Mr. A M Mathew, President, Kakkengad Farmers' Club. Mr. P A Premkumar- AGM Nabard, Mr. Srinivasa Menton - GM NMGBank, Mr. K Kunhikrishnan - RUDSET, Mr. Ramchandra Nair - Manager NMGBank and Mrs. P M Mariam, Secretary Kakkengad Farmers' Club spoke at the occasion.

A few more pictures from the inauguration

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Free Sewing Classes

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A Photo from the free Sewing classes conducted by the Kakkengad Farmers' Club. In the stage are Mr. T Mukundan Senior Manager, Credit Department, North Malabar Gramin Bank, Mr. P A Premkumar, AGM, Nabard and Mr. A M Mathew, President, Kakkengad Farmers' Club.

 

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Another photo from a news item from a daily showing Mr. P A Premkumar AGM, Nabard inaugurating the Free Sewing Classes for women. Also seen are the Area Manager Mr. K Janardhanan, Area Manager, NMGB, Kannur and Smt. Mariam P M, Secretary of Farmers' Club, Kakkengad and Mr. Ramchandra Nair, Manager, NMGB, Kakkengad.

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Innovative Tactics to tame money lenders.

Here is a news item which explains how the Kakkengad Farmers' club with the help of North Malabar Gramin Bank Kakkengad branch helped those who fell to the hands of the money lenders by innovative methods to save people of an entire village from them who oozed blood from the life of the low-middle income group of  Muzhakkunnu village near Kakkengad.

 

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